A Fork In The Road
by AmiraStarr
Summary: AU. When the chance to attend a prestigious arts university is dropped in Yamato's lap he should be thrilled. But how can he take the offer when it means he will be hundreds of miles from everything he loves? When Taichi organizes a road trip to visit the campus, Yamato and company must find a way to deal with the reality that change is the only constant part of life.
1. Fools Rush In

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.**

**This is an AU story, so the Digimon will not be mentioned aside from them being a popular television program. I was tempted to leave them in the story, but I decided against it at the last moment. The digidestined are still friends and know each other through school events and summer camps in this tale. ****This story focuses on the challenges of high school romance and the impending future. Change is the only constant thing in life, and this story will examine how some of our favorite characters fail and succeed in their efforts to handle said change. **

**Before we begin, I wanted to mention that the big examination for Japanese students (aka SAT/ACT for American readers) is typically held on a weekend in mid-January. The graduation ceremony is not held until March. The test is a once a year event so getting a low score forces most students to study for another year and try again next year.**

**Also, I wanted to say that this story was partially inspired by the novel 'Rainbow Road' by Alex Sanchez. It isn't a very long book, but I really enjoyed it. **

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All of the trouble started in late January…

It had been a rainy Wednesday, fitting for both the mixed emotions and the start of something new. The regular group had assembled inside a café downtown and tried hard to forget the cold rain beating on the windows. Hikari and Mimi had captured Sora, the newest café employee, for an unscheduled break and were quietly congratulating her on how well she had done on her high school exit exam. In fact, almost all the group members had been silently relishing their exam scores.

An unmistakable grin was plastered on Sora's face as she modestly thanked the girls for their compliments. Koushiro was actually ignoring the laptop sitting beside him on the table in favor of having an actual conversation with Iori and Miyako. I wasn't sure what the discussion was about, but I could hear a few technological words every now and then. Even Jou appeared to be letting his mind take a small break from his constant streak of worry. Then again, he was still writing feverishly on his notepad so it wasn't a huge leap for Jou-kind.

The plan had always been to take the test and go out to celebrate at some restaurant none of us could actually afford. On the first day of the new year, the upper classmen had gathered at the front of the school and made an official pact to try their hardest on the big test. As the months went by we kept good on the pact and studied hard, as well as dreamed about the future reward. And it had remained the plan, until Taichi had been given the devastating news.

"Hey." The brunet in question entered the café and seemed to notice the distrustful silence sweeping over the group.

"Hi, Tai..."

I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose as Taichi sat down beside me. He was coated in an odor that smelled suspiciously like sweat. After the disappointing news, everyone had attempted to offer Taichi some type of verbal comfort. It wasn't the boy's style, though. When faced with a dilemma, Taichi had never been the type to sit and stew over the options or possible future implications of a big event. He relied on a more physical approach that usually consisted of running around the soccer field till he was too tired to do anything besides collapse on the grass. I had been considerate enough to usher the group away so he could perform his sports ritual, but he hadn't been considerate enough to take a shower before re-joining us at the local hang out.

"Want a coffee?" Takeru looked up from the chocolate drink he had shared with Hikari and seemed to be the only one aware that the stiff silence was worse than fake chattering.

"I'll just share Yama-"

"Not after last time." I slid the container out of his reach and watched him try to pull a cute face, "If anything you owe me half a lunch from every day of the past school year."

"I thought we weren't talking about schoo-Ow!" Daisuke came out of his sugar coma long enough to sour the conversation and earn a swift jab in the ribs from Miyako. "What was that for?"

The glasses on her face slid down to give her an eerie look as she tried to nonchalantly motion towards Taichi. I had never been an expert in body language, but it seemed to me that a nonchalant stare was something made up by people who didn't understand facial cues. Although Miyako meant well, her bright brown eyes rolled rather obviously towards and away from the man of the hour. It wasn't lost on Taichi, by any means, and a frown settled over his face before he tried to set the group straight.

"I don't care if you guys talk about your scores. So, mine was a record low? It doesn't matter."

It didn't take a mind reader to tell that it did, in fact, matter a lot to Taichi. I had been beside him since we were kids and knew in my very soul that he wasn't dumb. Taichi was hardheaded, stubborn, and forgot to think before running into danger, but he was not unintelligent. It wasn't his fault that he froze on the big test. Tons of students across Japan couldn't handle the stress of that particular test. But for Taichi, it didn't seem to matter that he wasn't alone in his predicament. Losing his confidence on the test seemed to have affected him to his very core. It was like he had lost any confidence in the fact he possessed even an ounce of courage in his body.

"We didn't want to hurt your feelings." Sora tried to ease the situation by offering him a free beverage.

"Guys, I'm fine. I'll just re-take the test next year. Besides don't we have an evening of expensive food ahead of us? I don't know about you, but I am ready to eat the stuff that is good enough to earn a 3000 yen price tag."

A small laugh broke the group's silence and the others seemed comforted by Taichi's robust comments. Sora offered him a half-hug before rushing off to finish her shift behind the counter. Miyako, Hikari, and an overwhelmed looking Iori left the room to accompany Mimi on her shopping adventure. Apparently, she had absolutely nothing to wear, in her multiple, multiple closets, which would be appropriate for tonight's dinner. Daisuke, having been thoroughly energized by his sugary drink and chocolate cookie, taunted a tired looking Ken and Takeru till they agreed to accompany him to the gym. When Takeru locked eyes with me I couldn't fight the urge to mouth, 'Go easy on sir sugar'. When it came to basketball, my baby brother was definetly the most talented in the trio. I hadn't noticed Koushiro and Jou get up from the table, but I spotted them holding the door open for the girls before rushing off into the cold weather. A smile worked its way on my face as I watched Hikari offer her big brother a tight hug before running out the door after the others. It was the first time since the news drop that a real smile had spread over his tanned cheeks.

"So," I ventured the question that had burned in the back of my mind when we were finally left alone at the table, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." The charade persisted as he took a long sip of his drink. The liquid burned his tongue and he set the cup on the table so hard that half of the contents sloshed over the side. "Besides, you did great. We should be celebrating."

I mopped up the spill with a napkin from the table dispenser and tried to decide if I should play along with this charade. Taichi wouldn't respond well if he were pushed, but I didn't feel right ignoring the subject. Besides, how was I supposed to submerge myself in celebrating my success when the person I cared about was hurting? Whoever made the test had managed to put in questions that I had studied pretty hard during the cram sessions at Sora's house. It wasn't like I had done anything to earn great acclaim so why bother making a big deal out of it? The important thing was making sure Taichi was-

"Is that your foot?" I whispered under my breath as a sly smirk came over his face.

"Maybe."

I could feel his sneaker casually rubbing my ankle under the table. The movement wasn't grand enough to draw the attention of the other patrons, but it _was_ grand enough to pull my focus away from the issue at hand. The idea that Taichi wasn't above using physical means to escape the conversation, he had to know I wanted to have, wasn't too far-fetched. Our first kiss and first make out session had been products of his desire to stop my talking and move on to more pleasurable endeavors. Unlike me, the brunet didn't feel the need to analyze everything in his life before jumping into the water. Sora had once told me that it was that very fact that proved we worked as a couple. I kept him grounded and he kept me on my toes. If it was such a perfect ideal, why did I feel so bad trying to drag Taichi down from his blissful charade?

"We still have a few hours before we have to meet the others," He mumbled the comment and shifted slightly in his seat so our thighs could touch. Even in this odd emotional state, Taichi remained steadfast on giving off a perfectly straight appearance. Which he proved, by making a show of reaching past me for a sugar packet. If anyone had looked, which they weren't, it would have looked like I was just being unhelpful to my friend instead of a silent attempt to convince me to run away with him.

We had made a pact a while back to hold off on anything past making out until the test was over. For someone like Taichi, it had been cruel and unusual torture. We weren't a couple that thrived on public displays of affection, since it wasn't the smartest idea in most parts of town, so those small moments hidden in my apartment meant quite a bit to both of us. It wasn't like I had kicked him out of my life completely. There was only so many times I could try to talk him out of a lustful rage, though, so we had taken up studying in his apartment or any other public place. Our own personal plan had been to continue a private celebration after the dinner party. After everything that had happened, I wasn't sure if that was still the plan. As far as Taichi, and his constantly roaming foot, were concerned the plan seemed to be set in stone. In the pit of my stomach I felt a little odd feeding his denial with a private moment, but it had been such a long time since I had gotten a chance to hold him in my arms. There would always be tomorrow to talk about these things, right?

"Only if you shower first." I sipped my drink and noted the flavor had been lost due to the cooling temperature.

"It rained all the way here. Doesn't that count?" He pouted. Apparently, he had expected a more immediate yes to his request.

"Shower or wait till after dinner, choice is yours Tai." I laughed at his groan and couldn't help but feel the earlier tension begin to lighten. There was no point in figuring things out now. We could have a lovely dinner with friends and spend the night in each others arms. The rest of the future could wait for now.

"What's that?"

I blinked when Taichi's voice spoke up a little louder. He was pointing at a piece of paper sticking out of my pants pocket and seemed pretty interested in what it was. "It's nothing."

"Which means it is definitely something, in Yama-ese."

"Yama-ese?" An eyebrow raised out of habit as he nodded his head happily. "You created a language?"

"Oh no, you are the creator." He smiled at me and placed a hand on the base of my seat not covered by my backside. "It hasn't been recognized as an official language, but we are working on that."

"We?" He had my full attention by this point, which unfortunately left my guard down.

"Woah. Isn't this that school you told me about?"

As my brain snapped back into place, I realized Taichi had taken full advantage of the moment and stolen the paper from my pocket. He wasn't exactly the slipperiest thief in the world, but he could be quite conniving when the situation called for it. It seemed this situation had called for it in his opinion. My hand reached out to grab the paper from his tan one, but he avoided my attempt and tilted his body so I was staring at his back. Didn't he realize that I had been willing to play into his forget school for the day charade?

"It's just an academy in Hokkaido." I tried and failed to take it back once again. "There isn't anything special about the school."

"Yamato, you have talked about this place since the first day of senior high. I remember because you were always looking up Hokusai Katsushika University on my computer. My mom always asked why the browser history was full of HKU. "

"Alright, fine. It is an application to a school. But it doesn't matter I was just going to throw it away. "

Taichi peeled off the sticky note on the wrinkled application and waved it in front of my face, "Throw it away? It looks like Aono-sensei really thinks you could make it."

The Hokusai University had been on my radar for a rather long time. It was situated in the northern most part of Hokkaido; Wakkanai, to be exact. The town wasn't notoriously big, but it housed the most magnificent art college in Japan. I had never expected to go into any kind of higher education, but after my music teacher had showed me how many of my idols had gone to this university I was sold. The rest of my band mates had already been planning on going to different schools once we graduated. Back then, applying had seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Of course, that was back before I realized Taichi was going to be stuck in Odaiba for another year at the least. Not to mention the fact the school had some of the strictest application processes of any school. Even if my test grades were good enough, I still had to give them a performance sample of both acting and singing skills. Why try when the odds of getting in were so low?

"You are going to do it right?"

Taichi's face held a new light of bizarre optimism. Unlike his usual childish grin, this one seemed strangely more adult. As if he were disappointed I hadn't jumped on the opportunity, but was willing to give me a chance to change my answer. The parental look wasn't helping the mood of the situation, but the brunet was like a dog with a bone when he got stuck on something. The only thing I could do was try and use his own tactics against him.

"You know," I smiled at him as seductively as I could in the café, "If we are going to do anything we should probably head out now."

"Will you look into the school? And take Aono-sensei's offer to write you a letter of recommendation?" He was remaining out-of-characterly steadfast.

"I'll see what I can do okay?" I leaned in and let my leg cross over the other. The tip of my shoe rubbed his knee and I could see the determination being chased from his face by a new, more animalistic emotion.

"Deal." He set the paper on the table and excused himself to the bathroom before we started the long walk to my place.

A sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I folded the application into a neat square and tossed it into the trashcan beside the door. I still wasn't sure how this afternoon had started with me trying to comfort Taichi about his school issues and ended with him trying to sell me on the joys of university. It didn't feel quite right being offered a chance, as small as the chance may be, to move ahead when Taichi was still struggling behind me. If I was any type of boyfriend, wasn't I supposed to help him here?

The blue sticky note on the application caught my eye and sprouted a small seed of disappointment in my heart. If I was being honest with myself, I wanted to go to that school. I had worked hard on the test to earn a grade good enough for the prestigious school and I had received a score more than high enough to meet the requirements. Everything had seemed like it was going in the right direction, until the bottom fell out. It didn't matter, though. At least, I kept trying to dig up reasons to prove that statement. I wanted to be with Taichi and he was here. I had no guarantee that I would get in to the school. There were plenty of other schools closer that I could get into with my test grade alone. So I wouldn't be studying music with the people who had trained my idols? I could make it without that school. And that was exactly what I was planning on repeating in my mind till every fiber of my being believed the message.

"Alright," Taichi stepped outside of the café to join me on the sidewalk, before pausing and looking back towards the café. "Actually, could you wait just a second? I forgot to tell Sora something."

"Sure." I leaned against the wall and kept repeating my new mantra.

"Okay," Tai reemerged quickly with his hands forcefully stuffed into his pockets. The behavior was odd, even for Taichi, but I wasn't going to question him. For all I knew, he could have felt the January air was a little colder than I did and needed to protect his bare hands.

"What was it you said to Sora?" I asked casually as we started the walk to my home.

"Just wanted to make sure she had the right time for the dinner party."

Something was off, but I wasn't sure what just yet, "But, Sora is the one who made the reservation. You know she has the correct time."

"Maybe I forgot the time, okay?" He laughed the statement off, but it did little to ease my suspicions.

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**End of chapter 1! : ) The chapter titles for this story are all going to be song titles from the 30s through 70s music. The idea came to me after talking to another fanfiction author, Kal-El Fornia. If you get a chance check out his stories. You will not be disappointed. : )**

**As for the next chapter, we will get to see more of the trouble mentioned in the first line. If you're the readers I think you are, then you will have ideas already brewing in your minds. (Anyone catch the Dr. Seuss reference there? Lol.)**


	2. Cast Your Fate to the Wind

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**Thanks Krikanalo and Chromate for reviewing. You guys are sweet and some of the most dedicated readers I have ever met. In other words, you two rock! : ) This story may not be updated as fast as the others since it is mainly a way to let my brain focus on something besides the drama filled stories. I love a good drama story, but this sort of thing is nice every once in a while.**

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By March I had forgotten Taichi's odd behavior and moved on to more important things. High school graduation was quickly encroaching with various stressors hot on its heels. The main thing I had trouble wrapping my mind around was the first half of my graduation present from Takeru. The kid had actually found some way to convince our parents to have a traditional family meal. At least as traditional as the Takashi-Ishida clan could handle. We had never been a 'normal' family and, in my youth, that fact had driven me crazy. Now, what seemed like a lifetime and a half later, I no longer cared that we didn't fit some cookie cutter expectation of a real family. Heck, I didn't fit anyone's expectation of anything. With a boyfriend, surprisingly high grades given my distaste for studying, and a free ride to a school that wasn't what I really wanted, but was close to Taichi and Takeru, I was feeling like one of the best abnormal people in the world.

In fact, that joy had helped me ride through the entire graduation ceremony and the never-ending parade of photographs. It baffled me how thrilled Sora, Taichi, Mimi, and _even_ Koushiro were to run around the campus tracking down favorite teachers and coaches. Mimi had been the clear leader of the group when it came to taking pictures. I was pretty sure she hadn't even taken a single class from some of the teachers I watched her cajole into posing with her. The only teacher that I would have even considered taking a picture with was my music teacher, Aono-sensei. A spitfire of a woman who had the distinction of being the only person in the school's teaching staff to know Taichi and mine's little secret.

We had never meant to tell her about the whole situation. Fate just turned into a bittersweet mistress when Taichi and I had first become a couple. There had been plenty of late night discussions about our mutual desire to avoid any unnecessary attention and, in my humble opinion; both of us had done a damn good job of hiding our growing relationship. The only mistake we had made was getting too comfortable in the one place I felt at home on campus.

Looking back on it now, we had fought like children and proved how immature we really were when a simple apology kiss in the empty music room turned into a shoved against the wall, passion filled one. Neither of us had heard Aono enter the room and we had continued our juvenile romance until she swiftly hit both of us over the head with her favorite baton. The ensuing conversation had been both humiliating and heart lifting. We had learned so much about her that day, and I can never repay her for keeping our secret and supporting us during the rest of our high school careers. Even though I was close to becoming a full adult, it was startlingly wonderful to have at least one full-fledged adult to help me figure out the new and confusing part of my life.

"I thought I would find you in here." Taichi entered the music room and shut the door quietly behind him.

I gave him a soft smile but kept my eyes trained on the walls Aono-sensei had decorated so heavily. Every year the graduating students who had formed a real connection with Aono, would bestow a new wall decoration to her collection. No one ever mentioned his or her gift to her, because that would make the game far too easy. Part of Aono's charm was the fact she had been able to correctly guess which student had attached which decoration every year. At least, she claimed that she had never gotten one wrong in her many years of teaching.

"Did you bring it?" I asked as my hand fingered one of the stiff chairs stacked high against the wall. If I looked hard enough, I could still see my initials carved in the plastic.

"And more." Taichi's grin grew wider as he bounded across the room, package in hand. It looked a little big to hold the tiny sticker we had picked out, but I figured Tai had some other items to hand out that day. Besides, he probably didn't want to be caught carrying only that thing around the school by the other students and teachers.

A few weeks before graduation, I had taken Tai out to a store situated in one of Odaiba's forgotten back roads. The main clerk was an old friend of my band mate, who had once told me that he was one of the few stores in town to sell merchandise from past Gay Pride events in Tokyo. It was probably illegal in some fashion to resell the goods, but Tai had been pretty ecstatic to pick out a gift that would evoke a lot of emotion.

"You know I was completely right about this sticker. You just don't want to admit I was right."

He pulled out his prized sticker and held it delicately. The fist-sized creäture was straddling the line between horribly ugly and so ugly it was cute. Let's just say, it was leaning more towards the earlier. It was rounded into the shape of a white cloud and inscribed with rainbow text that simply asked, 'Got pride?'

"Just be glad I agreed on that thing." Taichi laughed at my quip and peeled off the backing.

"Here, you should do the honors. After all, you got most of the baton beating that day."

I couldn't help but laugh as I took the sticker from him. Taichi had never been talented in the musical side of life and he had been the only jock to earn Aono's seal of approval. He knew just how special and rare that was, and it had given me even more faith in my choice to be in a relationship with the overgrown man-child. As wacky as Tai could be, he knew something about life that made him seem a lot wiser than anyone would believe. You just had to dig a little deeper to get those nuggets of wisdom out of him.

"It doesn't look too bad." I admitted after sticking the adhesive side to the small section of free wall, "And it does fit perfectly in the bald spot."

"Now that you realize I know what I am doing…"

Taichi's words trailed off as he pulled the front of my uniform shirt to his body. Instinctively my head tilted and accepted the kiss he hungrily placed on my mouth. Thanks to hectic schedules filled with visiting families, we hadn't been able to share a real moment alone in days. Even my usually empty apartment had been taken over by my uncle who claimed to be in town to celebrate my graduation, although he spent most of his time crying on the couch about his newly ex-wife.

"Last time we tried this we ended up with baton sized bruises." I whispered against his neck after our lips parted. I could practically feel the dangerous smirk growing on his lips, "We are not doing that."

"What?" He put up an innocent defense and wrapped his arms around my hips. After a moment of rubbing my hip bones with his thumbs, he conceited, "How do you always know?"

I kissed his neck and listened to him groan in annoyance and desire, "Let's just say, you have mentioned this idea a few times before."

"I knew you weren't really asleep that night." He laughed and pulled his body away so I had to look into his eyes, "But is it really that much to ask after the awesome present I got you?"

"Present?" I had grabbed Tai a little something, but hadn't expected him to get me anything in return. Besides, he acted like I had already opened this mysterious gift and I had no recollection of doing anything like that.

"Sit down."

I followed his instructions nervously and watched him dig through the large bag from earlier. After a few minutes he seemed to have grasped what he was looking for and instructed me to close my eyes. I did as he asked and felt him place a large envelope in my hands. The item was thick and seemed to be sealed by a tight strip of cardboard on one end. I couldn't begin to fathom what Taichi had gotten me, so I simply opened one eye and tried to get a glance at the gift.

"Cheater. Well, you might as well look now." He laughed and watched my face with great expectancy.

"Wait…" I flipped the envelope around in my hands and stared at the return address, "This is from the Hokusai University."

"Sure is." Taichi grinned, obviously pleased with himself.

"How-"

"Just open it Yama!" He pulled a chair next to my spot and straddled it backwards. As he watched me slowly open the letter his hands tapped out an irregular beat on the chair's back rest.

After having expected nothing from the brunet and receiving something quite significant and odd, I was unable to form a sentence longer then three words tops. My hand shook slightly nervously as I pulled off the cardboard strip and jostled the papers out of the envelope. The first document was a one page letter decorated with the school's official seal. I don't know what the rest of the papers said, because my eyes could not stop staring at the first few sentences of the letter, '_Dear Ishida-san, we were very impressed with your grades and the musical portfolio you sent to the school. We would like to offer you a final call back audition on August 19__th__. If the board of directors selects you as a potential student, you will be offered a full ride for the duration of your time as a student starting in September of this year.' _

"Isn't it great?" Taichi laughed joyfully and patted my knee, "They want you Yamato! I knew they would."

"How… How did you know what the letter said?" My brain took its sweet time defrosting from the magnitude of the situation.

"Well, I opened the package before I gave it to you. Wouldn't be much of a present if it turned out to be a rejection letter. But it doesn't matter, because you made the cut."

I shook my head and fingered the audition date typed on the letter, "I still have to do one more audition before I could actually get in to the school. How did you end up with this stuff anyway? I never sent in the application."

"You mean you threw away the application." He corrected me and scooted his chair closer, "You worked so hard for this and when I saw it in the trash, I knew that you weren't going to do it. So I did it for you. I wanted you to at least have a chance of making your dream come true."

I kissed his lips tenderly and felt his mouth curve into a smile. Taichi had done so much work to make sure that I got a chance to live one of my dreams. I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming amount of happiness and admiration flow through my veins as I stared into his amber eyes. The new soccer ball I had picked up for him as a small graduation gift was definitely going to be replaced for something bigger after this. Honestly, I had no idea how I could, if it was even possible, repay Tai for this gesture.

As I contemplated various options to try to thank Tai, I found myself staring at his face. The smile coating his tanned skin was wide-set and loving. His hand was still stationed on my knee giving it a comforting amount of warmth. As the letter flapped due to the fans in the room, I glanced at the ornate school header. The address of the university was listed in black ink and sent my brain a quick reminder that I had avoided applying for a reason. Suddenly, the overwhelming joy gave way to a darker emotion that upset my stomach and forced me to look back into my lover's eyes. If I did this there was a chance that I would be on the opposite side of the country for years.

Even if Taichi passed his exams with flying colors next year, he would never be accepted or want to go into an art school. What else was there for a soccer star to do in the frigid Hokkaido area? For the first time in my life, the realization of just how different our lives were going to be overcame me. High school graduation had always felt like a pardon from a judge. You were supposed to be free and able to follow any path you chose for the first time in your life. When it came to Taichi and I, that freedom had turned into more of a monster. We were no longer going to be stuck in a place the offered us whatever activities we wanted plus togetherness. Now, it was starting to feel more and more like a game of risk with extremely high stakes; my boyfriend or my dreams.

"I figured," Taichi missed my mental battle and continued on with a cheery tone, "We can drive up to the school together. It could be like a road trip where we can see a lot of the country and goof off."

"A road trip?" I echoed the words and watched a flash of something flutter across his face.

"Yeah, one last big adventure for you and I."

The word _last _reverberated around my brain, striking up a multitude of emotions and thoughts. I couldn't tell what was more unnerving at that moment, the emotion flash across his face or that one word. Funny how the word _last_ could be so innocent and so nerve racking in the same day. We celebrated the last day of school with joy and excitement, but I wasn't ready to celebrate the last of something much more dear to my heart.

"I have been looking for you Ishida-san." Aono-sensei interrupted our conversation and walked over to stand beside Taichi. She shared a knowing glance with him and the brunet gave her a wink in return.

"Wait… you know about this?"

My favorite spitfire of a teacher laughed at my confusion and placed a hand on my shoulder, "Where do you think the musical portfolio part came from?"

Honestly, I hadn't paid too much attention to that part of the sentence. The most important words in the short line were definitely the ones that said they were very impressed. But now that the question had been raised, I was a little curious what clip or CD they had sent in with the application. During the last school concert for the year, Aono always recorded her graduating seniors performing their best piece from past performances. I had lucked out when she agreed to let me perform an original song for the CD.

"Yagami-san recorded some of your band practice sessions on his phone and I combined those sound bytes with my CD of your concert performance. It was quite the compilation." She smiled at me and placed her other hand on Taichi's shoulder, "So, are you going to go for it? It won't be easy, but I promise you it is going to be worth it if you try your best."

Between Taichi and Aono-sensei's hopeful stares, my willpower disintegrated into a pile of dust. How could I disappoint the two people who had made high school bearable? Aono had worked so many extra hours to help me perfect my craft and she deserved to have someone promoting her at a place like Hokusai University. As for Taichi… I couldn't think of an answer that wouldn't disappoint him. If I went we'd be apart and if I stayed he would be hurt I threw his gift in his face.

"Yeah. We're even planning a road trip." At least my answer could keep Taichi happy for now.

The strange feeling accepting what should have been my ticket to a dream come true gave me, lingered through the rest of the afternoon and into my 'normal' family dinner. Takeru had been the first one to spot it and I hadn't been able to create a lie convincing enough to appease the kid. Although he still needed me to tie his tie for special occasions, he was unquestionably not a little kid anymore. When we were younger it had been so easy to keep him safe and happy. If our parents yelled too loud I would just pull my comforter over us and sing him a silly song. When he had his first broken heart, I had been there to pick up the pieces and give him the comforting talk our dad would never have been able to. But, at the ripe old age of sixteen, he had become a pretty self-reliant person. Instead of me always checking on him the roles had started to shift into a more even level. I had never expected to become the sibling avoiding the questions instead of asking them, but I couldn't deny the shift any longer.

"Why are you being so quiet?" He flinched as I tried to tighten the tie and gladly took over the last bit of adjustments when I dropped the fabric.

"I'm not being quiet."

"Do I have to give you the 'I know when you are lying' speech like you gave me back in the day?"

A laugh escaped my mouth and I silently thanked my baby brother for bringing me a moment of happiness. Takeru hadn't been completely sure what to make of Taichi and I when we first became a couple, but he had never wavered in his support for us. To him, I figured, it was like he had another brother to play with when I was busy. But even if Takeru supported our relationship, I didn't feel quite right talking about the rough parts or romantic parts. I knew he didn't want to hear any of the mushy stuff, so it wasn't a problem to keep that to myself. But the hard parts and the fights were something I tried my hardest to keep Takeru out of. I helped him with his relationship issues, but it was a completely different thing when it came to my relationship. I was the big brother who was supposed to give the advice and not seek advice. What would Takeru think if he knew that there were problems even his brother couldn't fix? As long as I could, I was determined to keep my human side out of Takeru's sight. He needed someone to rely on and a person filled with insecurities and problems was not that person.

"I am just wondering what it will be like to see mom and dad in the same room. This restaurant won't know what hit it."

"They aren't going to do anything like that." He chastised me and nudged me away from the floor length mirror so he could check his tie, "Besides, they have been getting along better these days."

Takeru's version of better and my version were usually pretty compatible. When it came to this particular issue, I doubted we were even speaking the same language. I had come to terms with the fact our parents were not going to reconcile their marriage only a few years after the divorce. Maybe it was the fact I knew what the words they had shouted at each other meant, or maybe it was the fact I had seen my dad work long and hard to move on from his past. Either way, when it came down to the heart of the issue, I had a strong inkling that Takeru would always hold out a secret hope for them to get back together.

"Oh, I almost forgot." He left the mirror, dug through his closet, and produced a brightly wrapped present. "It isn't as fancy as Taichi's road trip gift, but I think you can put this to good use."

As I took the package, I noticed how funny he seemed to think the road trip idea was. Takeru, our parents, Hikari, and the rest of the two families had been rather ecstatic when Taichi had blurted out I had been accepted into the final round of auditions. When the subject of the road trip came up, the group had been split between laughter and confusion. Takeru and Hikari, the only two in the group who knew about Tai and I, had been the easiest to sell on the brunet's plan. As far as the parents went, they seemed to be preparing for quite a long discussion. My own mother had already assured me that we would discuss it as a group at the restaurant. I wonder if she ever realized that she never said family when talking about TK, dad, and myself?

"A book?" I asked him after tearing off the layer of paper. The cover was a deep blue color and had some symbols on it that I had never seen before.

"It is a journal. I figure this would give you some place to organize your songs. Or keep track of the stuff going on in your life."

Writing songs came easy to me, but I had never been that good of a fiction author… or non-fiction, if we were being honest. Besides, journaling didn't seem like something I would actually remember to do on a daily basis. I still couldn't believe that Takeru had been able to keep one for so long. What could you really say in a journal? It wasn't like I had a story fascinating enough to need to be written down. It was still a great book though, and the perfect size for carrying a few new songs.

"Thanks Takeru, it's a great gift." I hugged him gently and watched the smile grow on his face. "By the way, what do these symbols mean?"

"I don't know if the man who sold it to me was correct or not, but he claimed they meant friendship, courage, love, knowledge, purity, sincerity, hope, and light. He could have made it all up, but I hope he was telling the truth. Seems like a pretty cool idea to me."

I nodded my head and offered him an attempt at a smile. Personally, I shared Takeru's hope about the symbols having some form of power. We were definitely going to need most of the qualities he listed to survive the next month.

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**Alright guys and gals, another chapter finished. : ) I hope you liked it and will stay tuned for the next one! **

**Sorry about the cheesy reference to the crests. I couldn't help myself on that line lol. **


	3. Money, Honey

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.**

**I wanted to take a second to say hello to all of my new readers and reviewers. It means a lot to me that you guys and gals are interested in following this story. I hope it doesn't disappoint you. : ) And a thank you to NegaiKoumi for reviewing the story. I couldn't send you a message, but I wanted to tell you thank you for the review.**

**Also, I feel that I should let you know what artists performed the songs for the chapter titles. To catch us up, Chapter one is _Fools Rush In_ by Johnny Mercer, Chapter two is _Cast Your Fate To The Wind_ by Vince Guaraldi and Carel Werber, and lastly Chapter three is _Money, Honey_ by Jesse Stone.**

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The fact I was woefully unprepared to plan a road trip had never occurred to me, until Taichi and I were studying one of the many maps strewn chaotically around my living room. His brow was furrowed and his lower lip was being unmercifully bitten as the boy tried, desperately, to figure out the distance between two towns that were listed on only three of the twenty maps. As much as I wanted to wait and see if Taichi could figure this out on his own, I knew we didn't have the time to waste.

My audition was set for three o'clock on August 19th in the school's black box theater. Since we were planning to do some sightseeing on the trip, Taichi had allotted us a little over two weeks to make it to and from Hokkaido. The main problem was we had worked on this project since graduation and had little to show for our effort. With only three weeks left of July crunch time was upon us. The most we had figured out was the fact we were going to leave on the 10th and be back home by the evening of the 24th.

"Alright," I broke Taichi's musings when he gave the borrowed map a particularly bloodthirsty glare. "I've played with the budget and I think we are going to have to eat cheaply on this trip. Then again, if we could find cheaper lodging we would probably be fine."

"Camping?"

The look of excitement that covered his face, forced a sigh out of me. I enjoyed nature, really, I did, but after the last few camping trips my desire for the woods was dwindling. Roasting marshmallows, watching shooting stars, and listening to the sounds of nature were all amazing. But there was also the bugs, the unpredictable weather, and the fact at least one person in our party always ended up injured in some fashion. The first year I had sprained my ankle after tripping on a slippery rock near the tent. A year later Takeru had discovered that he was rather allergic to bees. Looking back on the past five years, there had been two broken bones, a choking incident involving an uncooked marshmallow, one snakebite, and of course the year Daisuke had almost fallen off the side of the hiking trail. We were lucky just to be alive at this point. Why push that strained layer of luck any further?

"How can anything go wrong?" Taichi seemed very aware of my reluctance and patted my knee, "It will just be the two of us. There won't be any wild teenagers to fall off cliffs or light themselves on fire."

"There actually is a camping injury we haven't had?" I was pretty surprised to realize we had yet to have someone burn themselves or worse.

"The point is," He climbed up from the floor and joined me on the couch, "It will be a nice and quiet trip. We can watch the stars and save tons of money."

"What if it rains or drops to an unexpected temperature?"

"If anything like that happens we can get a hotel room or stay in a hostel. It will be great Yama, trust me. You need to have an adventure every now and then."

The word adventure didn't sit well with me. I couldn't help but think back to what Taichi had said in the music room on graduation day, '_Yeah, one last big adventure for you and I_'. There probably should have been a discussion about how much that sentence bothered me, but it hadn't come up. Well, it hadn't come up because I had avoided saying or thinking about it as best I could. There wasn't any way to approach the subject without having a fight or something of the like. I couldn't push up enough stamina to start unraveling that particular knot of issues. If we could just make it through this trip in one piece, I would tell Taichi about it when we got home. Besides, there was still a good chance I would not make it into the school. Why start a fight when a rejection letter would possibly solve it?

"So?" He held out the word and poked my side to try to gain an affirmative answer to his request.

"If there is any chance of rain we are going to a hotel." I felt him hug me tightly and laugh heartily at my limited acceptance of the camping idea. As much as I disliked the idea it did save us quite a bit of money.

"I promise." He laughed harder and leaned his head on my shoulder, "No more slippery rocks for you, Yamato."

"You're actually going camping with him again?"

Taichi and I looked up as the new voice joined the conversation. Takeru was standing on the other side of the coffee table and seemed to find the situation rather hilarious. A pretty big move for a guy who spent half of one camping trip in the emergency room after a single bee sting. The bags of food in his hands gave him a pretty easy reprieve from my mood and pushed him back into the good side. It was hard to be upset at anyone willing to break a three-hour long planning session with free dinner.

By the time we had gotten the food passed out, Taichi had given Takeru the low down of our trip plan thus far. When I came back into the room with sodas for the three of us, I spotted Takeru looking over the budget I had typed out. His blue eyes seemed to be a little unsure of the figures, but he didn't say anything out loud. It wasn't like TK to question someone else's plan without an unavoidable reason. I took that as a somewhat good sign, since it must mean he believed Taichi and I were not going to die on the trip due to a lack of funds.

"You two have worked hard on this," He spoke up softly and offered me a kind smile.

"But?" There was far too much emotion on his face to buy that his statement was a casual observation.

Takeru paused for a moment and took another bite of his hamburger. He chewed the piece very slowly and kept his eyes on the table. Whatever he was going to say, it wasn't something he expected Taichi and I to take well. There was little, if anything, Takeru could say that would make me furious at him. He was my baby brother and it was my job to protect him. Sure, I didn't like all the choices he made in life, but I was going to respect them and be there to help him if they ever went bad. If I was honest with myself, I had a feeling that it was going to be Taichi who was disappointed by the news. He loved my brother like he was his own, but there was definitely a little tension in their relationship. A tension that stemmed almost completely from the fact Takeru was romantically involved with Taichi's sister.

"What would you think about an extra passenger on the ride?" His smile was a little too cheeky to be a real one and he was quick to add to the deal, "A passenger that can pay for his share and add to the budget, that is."

Taichi looked from Takeru to me and I couldn't help but smirk at the surprise coating my boyfriend's face. Hadn't he realized that something was brewing in the living room? It wasn't like Taichi hadn't been around Takeru for multiple years. I figured he would have caught on to the clues before TK had said a word. Either way, he was now up to speed and trying to figure out what was possessing Takeru to want to come along on the trip.

"I have a film class that wants us to tape what happens over our summer break. Riding cross-country would be a pretty good film for the class. Besides, it would give you guys a free home movie of your last big adventure."

How the hell had that phrase caught on so quickly amongst the people I cared about? I knew that I hadn't told Takeru about Taichi's unnerving sentence, so he must have come up with it on his own. That seemed like a pretty bad sign in my book. Was it possible that everyone else was already sold on the idea that this was an ending for Taichi and I? It couldn't be possible that I was the only person left with faith in our relationship. Then again, maybe I was thinking about this to hard. Maybe, just maybe, it was a simple sentence that wasn't meant to be taken so strongly.

"You really want to spend two weeks crammed in a car with us?"

Taichi's question was a little less emotional than I had expected. After hearing countless times how glad he was that this trip was going to consist of just the two of us, I had expected a little more animation in his tone. Instead, Tai remained leaned back in the chair, burger in hand, as he listened to Takeru's answer.

"Sure. I have been on trips with you before. Besides, it would be a great topic for my-"

"Film class." I finished for him and studied his face to try to gauge how much of this alibi was the truth and how much was creative fiction. "Is that the real reason you want to come along?"

One thing that I had always been able to count on was Takeru's honesty. Even when he didn't want to tell me the truth or attempted to lie, I had been able to see through his charade by watching for a few obvious signs. Sure, he could have gotten away with a few lies in the past, but I am pretty confident I caught more than half of them. Every time the space between his eyebrows wrinkled and he avoided my gaze in favor of staring at the wall behind me, I knew something was happening. Due to the fact he had been studying the clock on the back wall since Taichi's last question, I felt pretty confident in my attempt to call him out.

"Well, mom thought it would be good for us to spend some time together before you left for college. She felt bad that we haven't gotten to see each other that often and wants us to make some memories before you move halfway across the country."

"She wants you to make sure we don't get into trouble, right?"

"No… Yes." He offered a sympathetic smile in an attempt to ease the situation.

When my parents divorced, they had given me the choice of who should live where. Although my world had been crumbling around me during that period in my life, I had always been proud of the fact I got a choice. It was a completely different kind of pride then the pure version that filled me when I booked my first concert gig. This version was coated in a more bittersweet seasoning and forced me to act like an adult far past my years. When choosing my brother and mine's fate I had been tempted to cry, but the magnitude of the ability to choose had spurred my seven-year-old brain into pushing the tears away and focusing on the best path for my brother.

During the years I lived with my father, she had been pretty aware of the fact that I was living with more of a roommate then a parent. Takeru had always told her stories about how his visits to dad's apartment where full of no dad and me. When she had moved back to Odaiba, she started sending TK over to visit with various pre-cooked meals to stock my freezer. It had been the first time I felt like I was still her son. Until that sign of understanding, I had felt more like the other parent in this custody battle. She fully knew how much I had done for Takeru, and myself so there had to be another reason she wanted to send a babysitter with us.

"What?" Tai's voice finally hit the animated tone I had been waiting for and he shook his head with disapproval, "I don't understand why your mom thinks we are going to crash and burn on this trip. She knows we went on multiple camping trips and survived. The only difference is this one is a little bit further away then our usual destination."

Takeru's eyes glanced at Taichi's face, to mine, and finally back to his hamburger. That was the difference. Mom didn't trust Taichi to travel so far away and come back in one piece, and that meant she also didn't trust the fact I would survive unscathed. If she sent Takeru with us under the guise of brotherly bonding and extra money, there would be two against one if anything unexpected happened. The distrust my mother held in Tai didn't set well with me, but I couldn't deny she had some reason for her beliefs in his flakiness. During the start of our relationship, Taichi and I had awkwardly tried to find a way to be together without drawing too much attention to ourselves. Until we got the hang of everything, we had probably looked pretty crazy; constantly scanning texts, always changing plans at the last-minute, jumping to opposite sides of the room if anyone even looked at us the wrong way. Even my over-worked father had taken a few minutes out of his day to make sure I hadn't gotten mixed into some drug that caused paranoia and hyperactivity. If only I had been able to tell him it was just a side effect of my _different_ relationship. Of course, that was probably a conversation I would never have with him.

"We could use the money."

I finally spoke up and could feel Taichi stare at me in shock. Tai wasn't the only one desiring a trip that consisted of just the two of us. Like him, I could easily picture myself spending the multiple nights wrapped in his arms and staring at the stars. Unlike my boyfriend, I also pictured a car trip filled with a thundering desire to break down and ask him what was going to happen to us. It was easy to distract myself from the question when we were busily planning the trip, but what would stop it when I was stuck in a car for days on end? Takeru would be a welcomed distraction from that urge and it really did sound like a good chance for brotherly bonding.

"Fine." Taichi wasn't pleased with the idea and his voice showed it. Still, he attempted to cheer himself up by adding on a quick clause to the bargain. "But we are still going to get a chance to have some time alone, right?"

"Sure." I patted his shoulder and tried to help him accept the idea of our first extra member.

A three-person trip plan lasted for about a week, until the night Taichi's mother received a phone call from Natsuko. Takeru and I had come over to the Yagami apartment for a takeout dinner and a little last-minute planning, mistake one. During the meal Takeru had told Hikari and Yuuko all about the various towns and historical sites we were going to see on the trip, mistake two. Finally, mistake number three, while Tai and I washed the dinner dishes in the kitchen, Natsuko called and had a long discussion about siblings with Taichi's mother. She was the farthest thing from an expert about siblings, and could have learned quite a few things from the way Yuuko raised her children, but she had planted the seed of an idea in Yuuko's head.

Which is exactly how we quickly found ourselves crammed on the couch as Yuuko explained her new epiphany. Since they were the only couple known to Tai's parents, Hikari and Takeru sat together in the middle while Tai and I took up the outside seats. I tried hard to avoid looking at Taichi while Yuuko spoke to us about Hikari coming along on the trip, but it was impossible to avoid. His face remained calm while she talked on and on about siblings and the fact it would be so nice for the four of us to have a chance to bond before everyone started a new path in his or her life. When she finally asked what we thought about the idea, Tai let his eyebrows knit together in a look that seemed to scream unsure emotions to me.

"It might be nice to have an even number," I fielded the question for him and hoped he caught on to my hidden purpose. "That way Takeru could have some time to hang out with Hikari alone."

"Yeah." My boyfriend chirped in as the image of us pairing off infiltrated his brain. "We can share the camp site and always have a buddy if we have to go anywhere at night."

"Perfect," Yuuko smiled at the four of us. It seemed like she had expected a little bit of a fight before we would accept her idea. "Takeru and Yamato can share one tent and Hikari and Taichi can share the other."

"Huh?" The phrase slipped out of Tai's mouth before he could stop it.

"Hikari and Takeru can't share a tent Taichi, that wouldn't be appropriate. Besides, I trust all of you to be responsible on this trip. Which means no drinking, no late night antics, or anything else of the sort."

This wasn't the first time we had been given the act your age instead of your shoe size lecture. It was the first time anyone had bothered to mention that we were to avoid any 'late night antics'. What did that entail anyway? No sex, no rough-housing, no staying up past a certain hour? As far as Taichi and I were concerned, we were eighteen and fully capable of making our own choices of which behaviors to engage in. I hadn't planned on doing anything outrageous, but I was planning on spending the nights next to my boyfriend. With Takeru in the other tent with Hikari, there was a much higher chance that at least once during this trip I would have a chance to actually _be_ with Taichi instead of just laying next to him. A quick glance to Tai, alerted me to the fact he was thinking hard on something. If I had to bet, it was probably the same as my own thoughts, minus a stronger wish to keep Hikari and Takeru from sharing a tent by themselves.

"I'll make it easier on you guys." Yuuko spoke up from her spot beside, the surprisingly quiet, Susumu, "We are willing to give you a little extra money so you can spend a few more nights in a hotel instead of a tent."

"Well," I looked at Taichi and realized he was as torn as I was on this plan. In the end, I sighed and put on a fake smile. Maybe we could just avoid letting them know about the real sleeping arrangements? "It would be fun to have Hikari-chan along for the ride. And we could use the money…"

If I could have foreseen just how many more surprises were going to pop up in our path, I would have never wasted even an ounce of worry on the smiling couple to my left being invited on the trip. There were far bigger issues beginning to bubble into light and extra guests were only a small portion of that concoction. But as they say, hindsight is always twenty/twenty.

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**This chapter feels shorter than the last one, but it was definitely a necessary part of the story. I hope it was enjoyable to all of you lovely readers. By the way, if it sounds a little disjointed or (excuse my made up word lol) time-skippy, there is a reason for that. I promise to answer any questions if you have problems following along and will definitely reveal the reason for the flow in a later chapter. **


	4. Secret Love

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**Welcome back everyone! I hope you are enjoying your time with this story. : ) **

**As Lilfoc pointed out to me, I might have gotten the ages a little off. Sorry if that threw anyone for a loop. I figure that Tai and Yama are eighteen while Takeru and Hikari are sixteen for this story. Hope the age difference doesn't bother you guys too much.**

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Now that there were four confirmed travelers, a few parts of the plan had to be shifted to fit the changes. Instead of borrowing my father's personal two-door car I had been left to try to convince him that we needed to borrow one of the studio vans. He hadn't been to excited about the idea and I really didn't blame him. What parent wanted a bunch of teenagers driving a company car across the country? None. The answer to that question, was none at all. Unlike the other teenagers across Japan, I had a little more on my side then just a desire for the van.

Takeru's present of a 'normal' family dinner hadn't produced much in the means of family cohesion, but it had given my father a heavy dose of guilt. He had been late to the restaurant, which my mother commented on. And he had left early to fix a crisis at the station, which my mother also decided to offer her two cents on. I'm not sure when it occurred, but according to Takeru there had been a rather epic phone call to my father. It seemed my mother was determined that I get at least a proper congratulations from the old man. I couldn't help but wonder if she would have been as helpful if I had failed my exams. Really, it was a little twisted, but it felt like passing my exams had proved to her that I might be worth something.

Once the guilt mobile was secured, I turned my attention to Sora and her offer to lend us some extra camping gear. The great thing about Sora was that her family always seemed to have an extra of anything you could possibly need. Everything from mechanical pencils to spark plugs lived in that house and thankfully the Takenouchi family was more than willing to share.

"Yamato-san, welcome." Sora's mother greeted me at the door and waited until I gave her a proper greeting before continuing to speak. "Is Taichi-san not with you today?"

Takenouchi Toshiko and I had never been that close, but she had always been very polite when I visited her home. When Taichi came for a visit, on the other hand, there had practically been a parade. For some reason, she seemed to have a natural desire to spend a great deal of effort trying to impress Taichi and cajole him into spending time with Sora. Sora and Taichi's break up, almost a year and a half ago, had never really set well with the elder Takenouchi. Of course, it also didn't help that every time the subject of Taichi's romantic life came up in conversation he would tell her he was not seeing anyone. It was a snowball's chance in hell that we were going to have the bisexual discussion with Sora's mother. Sometimes, though I knew it would never be worth the trouble it would cause, I silently wished that we could just tell Sora's parents to stop hinting that Tai and Sora should get back together.

"Not today. He had a few appointments he couldn't get out of, so it is just me this time." I figured it wouldn't help anyone to mention the appointment in question, was actually checking out various cram schools in the area. I wanted Toshiko to stop trying to put my boyfriend with her daughter, but was not willing to embarrass Tai in the process.

"Yamato?" Sora joined us in the entryway and seemed very aware of the fact I was more than ready to leave her mother's side. She offered me a smile and looped her arm around mine; "I have the gear set out for you in the other room. Why don't you look it over before we pack it up for you?"

As she pulled me away from the main section of the house, I couldn't help but wonder if this was the way she had held Taichi's arm when they were a couple. That time period hadn't been the best in my life and was somewhat blurry in my memory; most likely due to a few poor choices. It had been too hard to be near Sora and Taichi when they were an item. Every blood vessel in my body would flow at record-breaking speeds when I saw them merely hug, let alone kiss. Sora was my friend but, during those years, I had been so torn between my need to be near Taichi and my unjustified anger towards her that I had chosen the only path available. I had run from them, the situation, and every fiber of my being that wanted nothing more than to have Tai look at me the same way he looked at Sora. Back then I thought running from my problems had been the hard part. It wasn't until the moment of truth came that I realized the actual hard part was coming back to those problems, finding the courage to fight them, and accepting the realization that your own feelings did matter in the big scheme of things. I hadn't perfected the lesson by any means, but I could see the start of that path. Wasn't that enough?

"So, Tai said Hikari is coming on the trip too. It is in Hokkaido, right?"

I nodded my head and looked through the sleeping bags and boxed tents taking up residence on Sora's bed, "Wakkanai, to be exact. It is supposed to be the biggest city in Hokkaido, I think."

"You are going to need this." She handed me a sleeping bag with a fleece liner, "When we stayed at my aunt's home in Sarufutsu it was freezing night and day."

"That is an hour away from Wakkanai, right?" I had gained at least a little knowledge about the area. A side effect that was most likely brought out by staring at maps for longer than any human should.

"Yes. You know, since we would have a place to stay right nearby, maybe I could convince the rest of the group to come see your audition? If that is okay with you, Yamato."

As the question left her mouth I stopped piling gear on the floor and looked up to her face. Although my concerts were usually filled with screaming friends, the audition didn't seem like the place for a cheering section. There was something almost sacred about the audition process; just you, your hopes, and a judge holding the key to your success or demise in the palm of his hand. It was terrifying and thrilling all at once and could give any performer an impressive adrenaline buzz.

"Well, I don't think they allow people to sit in on the auditions, but maybe we could do something afterwards? Tai allotted at least three days to explore the city."

"Okay, just let me know which days so I can talk to the others." Sora nodded her head and seemed to be fighting an urge to add something else to the conversation, "How is Tai handling the fact it won't be a special trip for just the two of you?"

The new question felt awkward and pushed me towards going back to work on gathering the supplies. If I let my mind think about it, Sora and I had a good bit in common when it came to relationships. We had both experienced quite a few romantic moments with Tai, but we had never crossed referenced those happenings. I accepted the fact that I wasn't Taichi's first partner, but it didn't mean I wanted or needed to hear the details of his time with Sora. When the relationship had started, Tai and I had talked about our past relationships a little. Honestly, he still didn't know one or two things about my past. I wasn't proud of the fact I had secrets, but maybe the cosmic balance of karma evened out since I never pressed him for details about his exs? The moral of the story, as far as I was concerned, was that I was going to try my hardest not to discuss my relationship issues with Sora.

"Are you okay?" Her voice was nervous as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "Is something bothering you? You have been a little off for a while now."

How weird was it that everyone, besides Taichi, seemed to be noticing this apparently strange behavior? It took most of my energy to keep the disguise up around Taichi and I guess I had failed when it came to the others. As I looked over at Sora's concerned face, I found a small part of my brain considering letting her know that I didn't know what was happening in my relationship. The larger part of my brain retained the belief that telling Sora anything about my personal life with Tai would end badly. For some reason it was growing harder and harder to lie to each inquisitive person. Couldn't they just leave my relationship alone and not remind me that there might be problems in the distance? Was it too much to ask for everyone to just stick their head in the sand and hope the storm blew over? If I could do it, they could too.

"Yes." My head was sticking down far enough to see the other side of the Earth as I chose to blatantly lie once again. "I am perfectly fine. I was just wondering if you had anymore sleeping bags with fleece in them."

A smile graced her lips, giving me more faith in the belief that she had bought the lie, "I think we do. I'll show you where they are if you will pull them off the top shelf."

"Thanks, Sora." I doubted she would realize that thank you extended far past the camping gear.

In order to save time, since his majesty Tai would obviously not be awake before I arrived at his home and honked the horn, Takeru and I had taken it upon ourselves to plan out a few special steps. Since he was the only person willing, or available, to help me pack the car that night, I had agreed to treat him to a nice dinner. When I arrived at his apartment, he was already waiting in the living room with his suitcase and personal sleeping bag. No one could say that Takeru would make them late to anything. Maybe that quality would somehow infect Taichi and inspire him to rise earlier?

"Alright," Our mother shuffled around the apartment and seemed very concerned that her youngest son was not ready for this trip. "Are you sure you have everything you could possibly need?"

Takeru adjusted the backpack strap on his shoulder and retained the patience of a saint. Instead of barking at our mother that she had asked the same question six times in the past hour, he nodded his head softly and gave her a gentle hug. When they broke their embrace a small awkward silence filled the room. They were waiting to see if I was going to hug her too. I was almost positive that it was some kind of test to see if I would make a move towards playing the happy family.

"Yamato," She approached me slowly and before I knew it had her arms wrapped around my middle. I stood in shock and marveled at how familiar her perfume smelled, "Stay safe. Okay?"

I nodded. It was the most I could muster as she let me go and gave Takeru one more hug.

Although I didn't get a direct, 'I love you' from my mother, she had settled on a broader 'Love you' shout from the apartment door as we walked to the elevator, I felt a strange high overwhelm my brain. How long had it been since she had actually touched me? Three? Five years? No, she had patted my shoulder two years ago when dad had his heart attack. Looking back on it now, I had shoved her hand from my shoulder and refused to allow her to speak to me.

It had seemed perfectly justified at that time, but now, with older eyes, I couldn't help but think I had missed something that night. Between my guilt and terror I hadn't noticed she was trying to reach out to me. That hand on my shoulder had probably been some attempt at running across our burning bridge. Was it possible that it might be my fault we had never reconnected? Then again, when had it become the child's job to make sure their parent was understood? I wasn't, despite how many signs pointed otherwise, her ex-partner who had run away from her and refused to reconcile the relationship. I was her son. I assumed she would have kept chasing me, even if I didn't respond at the first try.

"You know," Takeru hadn't said a word through dinner, minus a few idle pieces of chitchat, but his mood had shifted by the time we started throwing gear in the back of the van. "Maybe you can invite mom to see you after you get settled in the school? I am sure she would be interested in seeing the campus and learning about the classes you are going to take."

I adjusted a poorly shaped box of snack food in our munchy container and shut the plastic lid tightly. While waiting for my answer to his question, Takeru continued to hand me pieces of gear to stuff into the back of the van. Could it be possible that he would let the question drop? I really wouldn't mind accepting it as a random thought and pushing it out-of-the-way for now. There was far too much to get done tonight and the list was not ready to add 'consider your future with mom'. When I spared a glance to his earnest face, I sighed softly and shrugged my shoulders.

"If she wants to come, she can. But you know that I haven't gotten into the school yet. There is a chance I might be rejected."

"Nah," Takeru folded and extra blanket into a tight shape and stuffed it under the front passenger seat. "I have hope in you Yamato. You worked too hard for this not to work out for you."

As he spoke, I found myself counting how many times he used the word 'you'. Anything to stop myself from really listening to his message. Hope was a great quality. In the right person it could do wonders, as Takeru so often proved. But sometimes, when people were really honest with themselves, hope was nothing but a waste of time to excite you before the fall. You could buy into the fact the roller coaster was only going to take you up a straight path to the heavens, or you could accept the fact it was going to drop you at any second. How many times did people lose all hope when they heard that final clink of the mechanical track before it dropped at heart racing speed? Hope was great. It was great for children and people who deserved to have their world protected by those who had no faith in hope.

"Thanks Tak." I assumed the position years of experience had offered me and patted his back, "I'll get dad to take a look at the engine and you should probably head off to bed. Early morning wake up call tomorrow."

I waited until Takeru was safely in the bedroom to try to pry my father from the computer screen. Beside his large pile of papers to examine was the meal I had bought him earlier; completely untouched. There was no real reason to start the eating lecture, so I threw away the container and brought him a glass of water and his pills. I wanted to believe he would remember to take the medicine without me around, but I knew it was more of the false hope. Part of me had wondered, since he suffered his first heart attack, what would happen to him when I left? Even if I didn't go to college, I was eventually going to leave the apartment. My dad had never been on his own before and I figured he was too old of a dog to learn that new trick of self-reliance. His mother, my mother, and I had all fed into his workaholic personality by doing almost everything for him. The only difference was, my mother was able to leave the situation and have no one judge her. How would it look if a parent abandoned their child or a son refused to take care of his respected elder? It was a sticky web that I had tried to escape from for quite a while now.

"Dad?" I ventured as he swallowed the pills in one large gulp. "Did you still want to look over the car?"

Surprised would have been an understatement, when my father handed me the water-glass and actually stood up from his chair to go look at the car in the parking lot below. I had actually expected him to push-off the issue and forget about it by bedtime. That word really didn't apply to the man who never slept, just crashed when his body couldn't take it any longer. Either way, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. My experience with cars was woefully small and Taichi only had a little more than that under his belt. If this thing crapped out on the road, we were in serious trouble.

"Hold this." My dad handed me some car part I couldn't name and pushed his sleeves up to his elbows. It was impressive to watch the man tinker with the various car parts. The furrowed brow and steely gaze made him look like he actually knew what he was doing. Was my dad an ex-mechanic in secret or something? I couldn't remember riding more than a bullet train with him, but he moved with such accuracy that I couldn't dismiss the mechanic idea.

"So, the Yagami girl is coming on the trip?" He didn't look at me, but I understood he was busy with the engine and silently appreciated I didn't have to look into his eyes. "Isn't your brother dating her?"

"Yes."

"Hmm…." He held out the noise and seemed to be mulling the idea over in his head. "They aren't going to… you boys are sharing a tent right?"

So that was what he was after? He wanted to repeat the no sex lecture? "We have it worked out."

"I get that he is a teenager, but he doesn't realize how much trouble that stuff can lead to."

"Takeru is a smart kid. He won't do anything dangerous." Why had I ever wanted to stand here with my father? Breaking down on the road seemed much better than talking about Takeru's sex life.

He wasn't done just yet, "I'm just saying that I think it isn't a bad idea to remind him about being careful. One night together and your whole life can change. One minute you are on your way to university and the next thing you know you have a baby and have to settle for something different."

Different? I considered his ramblings and didn't like the mental image I was getting. The main reason being that I was most likely the baby in this story. The baby that had ruined my father's dreams of a big career in the communication field and tied him down to a woman he barely knew. Way to use the subtleties, Pop.

"So you don't want Takeru to take the same path you did? You don't want him to have any _accidents_ like you?" The questions were a little too sharp since he probably hadn't meant to offend me, but I couldn't take it back now.

For the first time since we had started working on the car, he glanced back to my face. I could see the lines around his mouth and eyes were deeper then I remembered. When had he gotten so old? Even the spark in his eyes seemed to have faded through the years of tireless work and effort. Could I really blame him for wanting Takeru's fate to be different? Wasn't he just trying to be the best father he could by putting out the thought that TK deserved to keep the spark in his eyes?

"What about you?"

"Me?" The subject changed slightly and I had to take a moment to catch up, "What about me?"

"I haven't seen you date anyone. Are you seeing anyone here in town?"

When the hell had my father picked up the impulse to explore _m_y love life? It was one thing to try and protect Takeru (the child my parents' hopes and dreams were pinned on), but it was a completely different one to suddenly look into my life. Hadn't it been enough that my mother had decided to reach out that day? I didn't think I could handle attention from both of my parents. After existing off little to none for so long, it felt rather uncomfortable to have them try to clamor for my attention. Especially my father, since he was starting to tread into water he didn't know was shark infested.

"The only person I ever saw you bring over was the Yagami boy."

Fuck. Here it came, the big question. 'Are you gay?' or, the less tasteful, 'Get the fuck out of my sight homo!'

"I like him."

"What?" I stumbled over the word unsure of the context of his statement.

"He seems like a nice kid. I am glad you found a friend like him. You can worry about finding a girlfriend later. It is more important to focus on your studies now."

Yeah, that was Taichi; popular, athletic, a parent's dream for their daughter…but not their son. I trusted the fact my father really had no inkling about the grenade he just dodged and went back to handing him various tools. My heart was still pounding against my rib cage reminding me that someday this talk may not end with my father missing the big picture. What was he going to think when he found out that his oldest son was never going to bring home a girlfriend? How was he going to handle the fact a fag, as he sometimes called people like me when he and his friends had a little too much sake, was the reason he was stuck where he was?

"You know," He wiped his hands on the rag and shut the hood, "You can always come to me for advice about girls or anything else?"

"Sure." I lied through my teeth as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. The touch burned as I realized it might be one of the last times he would ever want to be close to me. Maybe, I was better of soaking up the last signs of affections my parents showed me before the truth inevitably ripped their world apart?

"You should probably get some sleep. It is going to be an early wake up time." He pulled out a wad of money from his back pocket and placed it squarely in my hand, "Save this for an emergency, okay?"

"Will do" I tried to smile at him and for once didn't shove him away when he ruffled my hair.

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**Okay, I promise they will hit the road in the next chapter! Anyone who has been on a road trip as big as this one knows it requires a lot of planning lol. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it XD. The chapter title is 'Secret Love' by Paul Francis Webster.**


	5. Just my Imagination

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.**

**Thank you for all of the wonderful feedback guys and gals! I really appreciate you taking time out to read my little story.**

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During the long stints of time I spent in the hospital waiting room after my dad's heart attack, I learned a few things about relationships. When you were stuck in an icebox with only a scrambled television and a few girly magazines to entertain your brain, you had no other choice. The most interesting article had been about the impact your parents' relationship had on your own future romantic success. I had tried to follow the flow chart graphic added to the article, but they didn't have an option that really matched my parents' rocky marriage and split. Besides, if my parents' experience with romance was supposed to foretell my future, I didn't want to know anything about it.

What had really caught my attention was the part about learning to let the little things go. For two whole pages (front and back) girls of various ages had written in about the things that absolutely irked them about their boyfriends. Checking out other women, spending too much time with their friends, poor listening skills, etc. lined the bright pink and purple pages. The author, a shrink of some sort, offered the only part of the article I tried to remember to this day; learn to pick your battles. Was it really that important that he remembered your three-week anniversary? Wasn't it more important that he treated you respectfully and such? I had enjoyed the article, if I was honest with myself, but never dreamed that any of that information would be important to me. Even at that age I had bought into the idea that when the right person came into my life, everything would just click. How could you be annoyed with the person you loved so completely? After a few weeks into my first long-term relationship, I began to understand the moral of this story; you will get ticked at them but you have to learn to take a deep breath and handle things calmly. At least, you have to behave calmly _most_ of the time…

"Get up, Tai!"

I tried my hardest to shake his shoulders and convince his sleepy brain to rejoin the world of the living. In the parking lot below everyone from Tai's family, Takeru, and a few of our other friends were busily packing away the last bit of food and suitcases. Was it stupid to have given Taichi the benefit of sleeping in his own bed one last time before the trip? Hell yes. As my hands gripped his left forearm and began to pull, I mentally chastised myself for not demanding he sleep at my house like Takeru had. Then again, Takeru might have been pretty pissed if that had happened.

"Rea…Ya…" He shifted in the bed and twisted his arm until it had grabbed hold of my wrist. With one surprisingly hard tug he killed my balance and I went tumbling onto the mattress. Although my body tried to squirm out of his increasing death grip, the jerk wrapped his arm and a leg around my body.

"You are an ass. Do you know that?"

"You have a pretty odd connection between your mind and body."

I knew he had been awake the whole time! I tried to keep my face scrunched into a look of disapproval as I asked, "What the heck are you going on about?"

"I don't think all of you wants to leave the comfy bed." He yawned and snuggled against me like a body pillow. "Can't we just sleep in a little longer?"

When had I stopped fighting against his hold? It hadn't dawned on me that my body was sinking into his embrace until he finished his sleep coated offer. As his earthy scent began to invade my nose and the familiar warmth spread across my core, I couldn't really remember what I had been trying to make him do. Whenever Tai was involved my brain seemed to be anything but. As his warm breath hit the back of my neck, the last nail was added to the coffin and I felt my body began to turn towards him.

"I knew I should have picked guu*…."

The familiar voice pulled me back to the moment at hand. In the door frame stood an extremely uncomfortable looking Iori. His hand was covering his eyes and a large rust-colored blush was painted across his cheeks. Apparently, his shoes were the most fascinating things in the entire room to him. Anything was probably better than what he supposedly thought he had walked into.

"Iori," In a flash I was out of Taichi's arms and on the floor. After stumbling to my feet I tried to regain at least an ounce of sanity, "This isn't what it looks like. I just tripped and fell on his bed."

His face looked at me and seemed to be genuinely wondering if I thought he would believe that reasoning. In my defense, it was not a total lie. The brunet, trying to crawl out of the bed and slink away from the situation, was in fact guilty of causing my fall. I grabbed Tai's shirt collar and forced him to stand next to me. If I was going to be in trouble, he was going down with me. After realizing he was stuck, he rubbed his eyes and tried to regain his lucidity.

"Really, nothing was going on." Taichi tried to reassure Iori and watched him offer a small, solemn head bob.

After completing the quick action, Iori finally looked at our faces, "I should have knocked louder before entering. I'm sorry if I caused any problems. I will let them know that you are ready."

I watched the poor boy turn on his heel and walk quickly out of the room. Beside me, Tai tugged his collar out of my hand and busied himself with gathering various items from his room. My hand rubbed a new pain in my left temple as he scurried around like a man enjoying his last hours on Earth. We both knew that Iori was aware that Taichi and I were a couple. He had never voiced opposition or approval to the matter, and I respected that he was able to ignore outside pressures and remain steadfast in his beliefs. Whatever those beliefs may be, that is. I had always meant to sit down and have a real discussion with the boy, Daisuke and Miyako had brought into the group ages ago, but the right time had never come up. Now, I would probably be lucky if he could look at Tai and I without freaking out.

"Haven't even started the car and we already traumatized someone. Hokkaido, won't know what hit them."

Once Tai had gathered the last bit of stuff he deemed necessary for the trip, we hustled outside to re-join what was left of the group. Takeru and Hikari were already leaning against the car and trying to keep themselves entertained by discussing something with Sora. Mimi and Taichi's mother were pouring over some book and animatedly discussing its contents. The only person who wasn't involved in the group discussions was Taichi's father, Susumu.

"You are almost twenty minutes late now," The tall man took Taichi's bag and tossed it into the back seat of the van. "You are going to hit traffic if you don't move out quickly."

"No worries dad." A pride filled smile covered Tai's face and forced my stomach to flutter childishly. "I can get us anywhere in no time at all. Where are the keys, Yamato?"

"Hm?"

Taichi held out an open palm and waited for me to offer him the last ingredient for a road trip. We had agreed to split the driving between the two of us, mainly because we were the only travelers who had licenses. But I wasn't about to let the kid with sleep still nestled in the corners of his eyes drive us around a busy road way. I had a little too much self-preservation in my body to submit to that death trap. Instead of handing over the keys, I gripped them tighter and shook my head negatively.

"I'll drive first. You can drive later after we get some food in you and a coffee. Kay?"

"I'm really fine to drive now." Taichi grumbled and looked somewhat dejected.

"Listen to your friend." Yuuko piped up and gave her son a tight hug. "I want you and your sister to stay safe. Don't do anything reckless, okay? I love you two."

Watching Yuuko and Susumu wish their children a fond farewell was awkward. I shifted my feet and felt an even stronger desire to get out-of-town. Ever since we were kids, I had always harbored a little jealousy towards Tai and Hikari. Their parents were loyal, stable, and always loving. Their were no heart attacks, divorce, custody battles, forgotten birthdays, or any other wonderful life surprises to deal with.

"You stay safe too." A warm arm slid around my shoulder and pulled Takeru up to my other side. It took a second to realize that it wasn't Taichi holding me in an embrace, but his mother. She squeezed Takeru and I tightly and offered us a few sentiments before letting go.

"We'll stay safe, I promise." The words were a bit flustered and I spotted Taichi giving me a loving smile from the corner of my eye.

After the parents had gotten their chance to hug all the travelers, we boarded the van and buckled our seat-belts. Hikari and Takeru were stationed in the back and seemed to be waving towards Kari's parents on the sidewalk. Sora stood beside Taichi's door and whispered something to him that I couldn't understand. It was wrong to even try to eavesdrop on their moment, but I couldn't help myself. Jealousy was an ugly emotion, but it was one that my human side knew pretty well.

"Here." Mimi handed me a thick book and I wedged it between the two front seats. "I think you should be able to find one in there. Break a leg, Yamato. You can do it!"

"Thanks…" I was a little overwhelmed by her vocal-ness and kept my voice to a softer tone, "Where did Iori go?"

"Iori?" She tapped her chin in thought, then snapped her fingers as the thought came to her. "He left a few minutes after coming back to the parking lot. He said something about wishing you a good trip, but he needed to go. It was strange really, he left and then Daisuke and Ken disappeared. At least everyone else said good-bye to me before they left."

"I'm sure they meant to." As the engine whirled to life I gave her one more smile and a friendly goodbye.

When we had enjoyed the 'normal' family dinner so many weeks back, my mother had been hesitant about the road trip idea. During the whole meal, she had twisted her napkin nervously between her hands and listed off all the possible things that could go wrong. The only thing that had distracted her from critiquing the idea was bashing my father for arriving late and leaving early. Who knew I could have been somewhat thankful to see my parents fight someday? If that didn't prove how twisted our family was, nothing ever would.

The funny thing about that night had been the fact she had one or two pieces of knowledge that were beneficial. She had warned me that I was going to learn a lot more about everyone on this trip and that I needed to make sure I took time to be alone. The idea seemed kind of fanciful to me at that time and at the start of the road trip. Why would I want to be alone when I could spend my time with Taichi? We had waited so long to be together and spend this time living however we wanted. How could that possibly go wrong? Of course, the bigger question turned out to be, 'How stupid could I actually be to not listen to that piece of advice?'

Three coffees, one hot chocolate, a box of animal donuts*, and a hundred plus miles into the road trip and we were doing far better than my mother's worries had expected. Takeru and Hikari had fallen asleep in the backseat, with her head resting gently on Takeru's shoulder. My brother's head was leaned back on the head rest and a soft snore left his mouth every so often. We had made it through the first traffic rush and were now enjoying the peaceful backroads that offered the best views of the various towns. Taichi had been directing me with our main list of directions for the first half, but he had grown tired of the task when we hit long straight roads. His attention turned to the book I had situated between our two seats.

"What is this?" He mumbled to me and turned down the radio for a few moments. His finger ran over the cover's lettering and he grew a small grin, "1,000 monologues for young adults?"

I shrugged and changed lanes, "I had to have an acting audition as well. They said to prepare so many bars of music and a pair of scenes."

"What do you mean a pair?"

"You know," One hand remained on the wheel, while the other motioned in the air, "A sad one and a happy one."

Taichi opened the book and began to look through the pages. I couldn't tell what he was reading, but it must have been pretty interesting. Very few times in life had Yagami Taichi been quiet, but this book left him silent for a good three minutes. As I pulled into outskirts of Nasushiobara, he looked up from the book and stared at me.

"I know which one you should do." Although I couldn't look away from the road, he flashed the page at me then laid it back on his lap. "This one is about a guy who sees an imaginary rabbit and almost ends up in a loony bin."

My brow furrowed, "What do I have in common with a guy who hallucinates about giant rabbits?"

"You talk in your sleep." Taichi shrugged and tried a strange path of logic to defend his selection, "How different can those two things be?"

"Very. There is a _huge_ difference between seeing things that aren't there and babbling in your sleep."

For a split second, I spared Taichi a glance and noticed a new flash in his eyes. Even when Taichi knew he was wrong or had misspoken, his competitive side would not let the issue drop. There were plenty of times when I adored that side of my boyfriend. Who wouldn't adore a guy who was willing to yell at your father for doing something he never should have done? I owed Tai's competitive, slightly aggressive, side a lot. But sometimes, it was a tad trying.

"Well," He adjusted his position in the chair and I noticed how his extra two inches of height began to show themselves. Apparently, being the tallest person in the car had something to do with being right. "You see things in both of them. Why would you speak in your sleep if you weren't dreaming? The only real difference is that one occurs while you are awake and the other occurs while you are asleep. So they are pretty similar."

"I still don't imagine giant bunnies around me."

"Didn't you have an imaginary penguin as a kid?"

A blush flushed across my cheeks, but it vanished when a strange noise came from the back of the van. Instantly, my eyes flashed to the rear view mirror and spotted a passed out Takeru and Hikari. Before we left that morning, I had filled the tank as full as possible and checked the pressure of each tire. The gage said we still had a decent amount of gas left, so the noise had to be something else. Please, I found myself praying, do not be an engine issue. We were far enough away that turning around was out of the question and I did not care to find a mechanic in a strange town.

"It was just the supplies rustling in the back." Taichi shrugged his shoulders and kept a silly grin on his face.

"Maybe," I pulled my attention back to our conversation and quickly added on, "By the way, the penguin was Takeru's friend. I didn't have one."

"Really?" His voice was genuinely surprised and he leaned closer to my seat. "I figured all kids had one. And since you spent a lot of time alone…"

He watched me with those wide brown eyes and I wondered if he caught onto my anxiety. Taichi knew enough about my family to understand my childhood had been a bit lonely. I had never been the bold type and usually preferred to participate in activities that required no dependence on another soul. Each day I had left school and gone home to practice my music. Now that I thought about it, I wondered what it would have been like to have a childhood like Taichi's own. Would I have turned out the same way if I was more personable and had lived with my younger sibling? Taichi hadn't discussed his childhood at great length, but the few pieces I knew about sounded kind of fun.

"I had one." He admitted after taking a moment to gauge the silent tension. "A dinosaur who could breathe fire. Oh! And he could magically produce food."

"Why food?" I asked as we entered the more populated section of Nasushiobara.

"Have you met my mother's cooking? If it can be called that." We both laughed and he continued his explanation, "His name was…"

"Was?" I pressed as the curiosity ate me up inside.

"Sakura."

"Sakura?" A new voice cackled from the back and was followed by a short boisterous laugh.

Within seconds my foot hit the brake and we glided unceremoniously to the shoulder of the road. The jerky motion disrupted Hikari and Takeru's nap. They rubbed their chests, sore from the seat belt snapping, and stared around the car with confused eyes. I knew the voice didn't belong to either of my younger travel companions. Taichi, who offered me a look of disbelief mingled with annoyance, appeared to be on the same wave length.

"What is going on?" Hikari tried to break our silent task by asking the question through a yawn.

Taichi missed the quiet question and hopped out of the vehicle. I gave her a quick explanation that we weren't sure and noticed the duo followed me to the back of the car. We arrived just in time to see Taichi pop the hatch and start digging through the supplies. Takeru caught the first few pieces and set them on the ground beside the back wheel. He looked at me, ready to question Tai's sanity no doubt, until a new duo was added to the mix. Our resident soccer star pulled out, rather roughly, a sheepish looking Daisuke and a mortified Ken. For a moment, no one said a word. What could you say at a point like this?

"So, I guess you are wondering why we are in the van…" Daisuke, the only one of the two able to look our group in the eye, said.

"That was not the first thing I had planned on asking or doing." Taichi's eyes narrowed in annoyance and I grabbed his arm to try to defuse the situation, which seemed to be leaning towards the beating of two teenage stowaways.

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**I thought about adding more, but I want to give Daisuke and Ken their own area to explain what transpired to get them in the car. Hope you enjoyed the conversations between the boys. I like having chances to show how the interact with each other and their differences. We will definitely be diving deeper into their pasts as the story moves forward. The strange thing about this story, is that it feels like a sequel. Maybe I should write a prequel… I'll think on that. But first I have to finish a different project lol.**

*** In Japan rock, paper, scissors is played slightly differently. For the purpose of this chapter I had Iori use the sign guu (rock). The other signs are choki for scissors and paa for paper. **

***Animal donuts are pastries decorated to resemble random critters. I looked them up and some of them are adorable. I could see most of the Digimon kids eating those donuts. I promise they are not made with any kind of meat lol. **


	6. Don't Forbid Me

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.**

**Thank you for coming by to the read the latest chapter. It means a lot to me that you guys and gals seem to be enjoying this story. **

**Did anyone catch what theater show was being referenced in the last chapter? Hint; Giant imaginary bunny.**

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Unlike this morning's failure at using my strength against Taichi, I did pretty well on the shoulder of the busy road. He fumed at the boys silently then attempted to step towards them and offer a _special_ set of disappointed words. Taichi had never been much of a foul language user, but when the right nerve was plucked he could make a sailor blush. Thankfully, we hadn't quite reached the point were his adult words came flying out. I tightened my grip on his arm and tried to pull him back a step or two.

"Let go, Yamato." He turned his attention to me and failed at shaking his arm out of my grasp.

"Not till you calm down." I tried to keep a steady, soft voice. Taichi was not the only one pissed about the unexpected guests, but he was the only one of our group who failed to realize we were not alone. My abrupt parking job had garnered us a few curious stares from the passerbys. Now that we seemed to be having a surprisingly physical and verbal discussion, or fight, to be honest, more people were stopping on the sidewalks to look at us.

Taichi noticed the stares and looked at me with frustration.

"At least wait until we get somewhere less public to beat them?" I compromised and refused to alert Daisuke and Ken to whether or not it was a joke. They deserved to sweat a little, in my opinion.

Only a few minutes later, we located a park in a relatively empty part of town and took residence at a picnic table. Hikari, who seemed to be the only person willing to consider the boys' side of the story, sat on their side of the table. She tried her hardest to comfort Ken who had refused to say a word during the entire trip to the park. Takeru and I were situated across from them, while Taichi perched on the edge of the table, seemingly too agitated to sit down in an actual seat. Every so often, he leapt from the spot and paced the small concrete slab housing our table.

I took a slow breath and remembered the promise I had made to the fidgeting brunet. We were supposed to have plenty of time to spend with just each other. The whole trip had been built so that we could relish this fleeting window of time, before all the big decisions attacked. How were we going to do anything with an extra set of sixteen-year-olds around? I would have put more faith in the idea that we could trust them to be independent, but that theory was nullified by the fact we had just seen them be dragged from the back of a van they weren't supposed to be in.

"First off," Taichi finally stopped pacing to stare at the culprits, "Do you realize that we are over a hundred miles away from home? That driving you back is going to eat a huge chunk of time we don't have to spare!"

"I don't think we can do everything on your itinerary if we have to re-trace our steps." Takeru offered the statement softly, and I couldn't decipher if he was pushing for them to stay or feeding Tai's fury. Maybe he was trying to do both?

"It won't look good if we have to go back." I relented, "You know our mothers will find some way to prove that this is our fault and a sign we can't be trusted."

"What?! Are you trying to say we are stuck with them?" Taichi growled out the question, still feeling pretty hacked off. "I am not taking them on the rest of this trip!"

"I am so sorry." Ken spoke up and tried his hardest to behave in a polite manner. It wasn't an easy task with the fuming Taichi glaring at him and his cohort. "Daisuke and I never meant to cause such problems. I promise, I will find a way to repay you for any problems we have created."

"Oh, Ken," Hikari patted his shoulder in a friendly manner and offered him a smile. "It's going to be okay. Just take some deep breaths."

"No," Taichi groaned, "They are not the ones who need comforting. They are the ones who illegally snuck onboard the van. They are the ones in deep, deep trouble!"

"Why did you sneak on?" Takeru kept a level head, evident by his calm exterior and non-threatening voice, as he watched Daisuke and Ken.

"It was a joke, I guess… It just got kind of out of hand?" Daisuke's normally brash nature was clear as he answered the questions with only a little guilt etched onto his face. I had a sneaking suspicion that Ken had actually been an unwilling partner in the crime. The only thing I couldn't fathom was why Daisuke could pull someone as smart as Ken into so many shenanigans. "We only meant to ride as far as the end of the block, but it was early and I was tired…"

"I didn't want to wake him, because I knew he would make a noise and possibly cause the driver to lose control of the car." Ken admitted his part and seemed to slowly be gaining enough confidence to look at us again.

At least Ken's excuse seemed somewhat considerate of us. Daisuke, on the other hand, had been willing to pop out and scare the driver back in Odaiba. If he hadn't fallen asleep, who knows what might have happened to the van? My father would have killed me if I scratched that vehicle, and I had a pretty strong feeling that if Daisuke's actions had injured anyone in the car I would have personally strangled him. Since everyone was okay, and we had limited options, I had to try to suppress the what-ifs and focus on the current situation.

"Our budget can't take it." I mumbled, mainly to myself.

"We can make it work if we try," Takeru reached into his bag and pulled out the folder we had used for al the travel information. "It might mean a few more camping days, but with the extra money from our parents it is possible."

Why did I get the feeling that Takeru was not as put out as the rest of us? The blonde boy merely scanned the paperwork and pointed out a few places we could save money. According to his calculations, we would only be given a hotel room during our time in Hokkaido and two times on the road. That meant at least eight nights in tiny tents. Whoop-dee-frickin-do…

"No." Taichi shook his head firmly and closed the folder as if to symbolize there was going to be no discussion on the matter. "We are not taking them! Case closed."

"We have to do something with them." Hikari spoke up and offered her brother a small, sympathetic look. "If we can make the budget work, why not let them come along for the rest of the trip?"

"Do their parents even know they are here?" Takeru finally seemed to be joining the 'send the boys home' team. "Besides, what will they wear? They have nothing packed."

"Well," Ken, the most helpful of the duo cleared his throat and tried to regain a steady face, "My mother and father are out-of-town, so I was supposed to stay at Daisuke's home until they returned. His parents, think we went to spend the week with his cousin in Tokyo. They gave us some money for emergencies and my mother gave me her credit card for an emergency."

"Great!" Tai's voice perked up and he clapped his hands together so hard I flinched. "Then we will just send you back to Odaiba with that money."

"You trust them to actually follow that order? Besides, sending them back would cause a stir between all the parents, remember?"

"Yamato, whose side are you on anyway?" He stared at me and I couldn't figure out all the emotions swimming in his amber eyes.

For a second, I really thought about his question. Taichi's idea wasn't completely out of left field. Even if the boys didn't head home and did something stupid like exchange their tickets for ones with a new destination, they would be out of our hair. Besides, why did I bother to wonder about our parents' view of our trip? It wasn't like they could drive up to us and force us to go home. Bringing the boys along was pretty much a blatant sabotage to the trip. And the weirdest thing of all, was the fact I almost wished they _would_ destroy our trip. At least that would mean I wasn't the person who killed the school idea and let down Taichi's wish to see me get in.

"Yours." I pushed the guilt-ridden thoughts away and tried to find a peaceful medium. "I'm on your side, Taichi. You know that."

"I just want this to go perfectly for you." His voice calmed as he looked into my eyes and I felt the guilt rise to a new level. "This is your chance to do something great, Yamato."

"It will." I swallowed back the emotions attempting to choke me after his caring sentiment. How could I let him down when this meant so much to him? Just because I was afraid of leaving everything, namely Taichi, behind that didn't justify not trying. He had gone through a lot of trouble to get this whole thing set up, and if I did anything but go along with a smile, I would be classified as the world's biggest heel. "Let's go ahead and send them ho-"

"Alright," Taichi had turned his gaze from me and was too busy glaring at the boys to hear my attempt at an agreement. His brow was furrowed and his gaze was causing Ken and Daisuke to widen their eyes in slight fear of what he would do next. With one steady finger, Taichi pointed to each of them in turn and laid down the law, "If you are staying, then you get to be on camp set-up and take down duty for the rest of the trip. Not to mention, meal duty for the nights we cook at the campsite. And, last but not least, outside and inside van cleanup duty."

Daisuke and Ken looked at each other for a moment and seemed to be trying to silently gauge if this was an acceptable deal. Part of me was excited that I wouldn't have to set up a tent if they took it, but the other half remembered Taichi's deal had been spurred on by my moment of weakness. There was a good chance the guys wouldn't take the deal and would choose to leave on the next train to Odaiba. If they took the deal, then this was going to be an even odder trip then any of our group had imagined. But who would be stupid enough to take a deal offered by a man as blood thirsty looking as Taichi was now?

"We'll do it!"

Apparently, Daisuke was just stupid enough to take the deal. He offered Taichi a small peaceful grin and stuck out his hand to shake on the deal. The whole scene reminded me of a western movie my father had watched when I was a kid. The sherif of some tiny town had agreed to let the bad guy go if he promised to leave town for good and never return. They had shaken on the deal just like Taichi and Daisuke. In the end of the movie, the sherif was shot by the bad guy and died.

"I knew you guys would let us come along." The words slipped out of Daisuke's mouth and forced all of us, Ken included, to stare in complete shock and anger. It seemed there had been at least one tidbit the young brunet had decided to not mention.

"It was a joke, Taichi. Honestly." Taichi rounded the table and seemed to have lost his last shred of patience, as he chased the kid around the park with a new-found fury.

Natori had always been our first scheduled stop. When Taichi and I had checked out the maps, he had been adamant that we visit the summer festival in Natori. Luckily, the date of the celebration and our trip had coincided perfectly. Every year his parents had taken him to the festival, since it was near his uncle's home. After Tai and Hikari's uncle had moved back to Odaiba, the trips to the festival had stopped and he was left with just his memories. From what little I had been told, those memories were to die for. The thing he had been most excited to show Takeru and I was the amazing decorations and booths set up amongst the firework viewing area. At least, that had been the plan before we found our two new workers.

When I pulled the car into the campground parking lot, the sun was already nestled happily in the distance. The sky was covered in a yellow-y pink haze that Hikari demanded we take a picture in front of. After a few group photos Taichi pushed the stowaways into action and watched as they started to unload the gear. Daisuke, in particular, kept his eyes on the gear instead of the tall, annoyed man ordering them around. In the right amount of light, I could almost see the bruise on his face from when Taichi had cornered him at the park.

"It is going to take forever to set up the three tents." Tai complained in stress and exhaustion.

"It'll be okay. Besides, we are lucky Sora forced us to take an extra one in case of an emergency. You know those things run small." I patted his shoulder platonically and tried my best to smile encouragingly, "And you can still show us around the festival before dark if we hurry."

"Hey guys," Hikari turned from the back of the car to look at us, "Where is the other tent? There are only two in here."

"Daisuke, Ken?" Taichi charged off from my side and I watched from a distance as the boy's explained that they had taken a few things out to make room for their hiding spot. At least this time Daisuke managed to get a head start before Tai chased after him.

An hour and a half later we made it to the festival and had a tiny bit of sunlight left to explore the various food and souvenir booths. Takeru and Hikari kept their pinkies looped together as they waltzed through the crowds with little difficulty. Daisuke kept his head down, apparently having finally made the connection that he might have pushed his older soccer chum a little too far. Ken, Taichi, and I walked in a row and stared at the parents, children, and elders darting from one seller to the next. It would have been nice to be able to stand a little closer to Tai, or hold his hand, but that wasn't something realistically possible.

To distract myself from the man next to me, I studied the faces of the people in the crowd. Ken's face in particular caught my attention. I couldn't understand why he stared at Hikari and Takeru with such a longing look. He had never shown any romantic interest in Hikari before. In fact, I couldn't remember him showing a romantic interest in anyone before. Maybe, though I couldn't bring myself to believe it on such little evidence, it wasn't Hikari that he was staring at?

"Hey, Yamato." Taichi's grinning face busted my people watching hobby as he handed me a bowl of yakisoba. I took the bowl and watched him wander back over to the younger members of our group. After a brief conversation I couldn't hear, the teenagers walked over to join the main crowd of viewers and Taichi rejoined me. "Up for a little trek?"

Hiking had never been my favorite activity in the world. Night hiking seemed like an even worse idea. There was something magical about exploring a city illuminated by street lights and the few stars you could see past the man-made lanterns. In a strange city with limited visibility, the idea of breaking away from the main group seemed like a poor choice. But as I turned to see the paper lanterns fade into the distance, Taichi's hand grabbed my free one and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

A few minutes later, he stopped on a small hillside coated in a fresh layer of green grass. The Natori area was known for remaining pretty well drenched by rainfall year round, and it definitely helped the foliage bloom into wonderful spectacles of nature. The few lights that reached our space from the festival area below gave just enough illumination to show a few colorful flowers on the edges of this hideaway between the trees. It really was a perfect spot and Taichi seemed to be deeply immersed in some trip down memory lane as he stared at the crowds below.

"You know, I got lost here when I was a kid."

I ate a few of the noodles in my bowl and watched as he continued to stare at the people. Although I had heard a few stories about his years visiting this festival, I couldn't recall any tale that resulted in him being lost in the outskirts of the party. Most kids would have been scared to be stuck on a hill with no easy way to get back to their family. Taichi, though, had never been like most children. I always pictured him as the kid who stood up for the weaker ones on the playground. That little boy with scratched up knees and missing teeth, who went out of his way to stop any injustice. By the time I met him in grade six, he had lost the missing teeth but still harbored a penchant for scratched up knees.

"Why are you staring at my legs?"

"Huh?" I looked up from the muscular legs and watched him steal a noodle from my bowl. "What were you saying?"

"Got lost in staring at my shapely body, Yama?" He teased playfully and I threw a noodle at his face. "Easy, tiger."

"Come on now, tell me your story."

We settled on the grass and I noticed how much calmer he seemed when it was just the two of us. Instead of the angry eyebrows or gritted teeth decorating his face, I could see a goofy grin and a familiar twinkle in his amber eyes. The twinkle sent a small shiver down my back, which caused his grin to grow wider. After stealing one more noodle and sitting notoriously close to me, he looked back towards the people settling on their blankets and lawn chairs.

Out of habit, and enjoyment if I am being honest, my hand grasped his and interlocked our fingers. The privacy and darkness of our special hideout made the action feel safer then it had in a long time. There was something fascinating about watching the people go about their lives while our romance blossomed out of their sight. Taichi and I had always been offered a chance to see things through a different lens then most of Japan's population. It was lonely and thrilling to share a secret so large with one special person. As I studied the unaffected happiness on Taichi's face, I could only feel the thrill.

"When I was seven years old," His voice was soft and surprisingly tender, "I decided that we had the worst spot in the entire town to see the fireworks. We had to sit pretty far away because Hikari was a little kid and couldn't stand the noise. When the first few started, she began crying and my parents tried to cheer her up. While they comforted her, I took off on my own to find a better spot. Eventually, I found this place and got the best view of the fireworks ever."

"Sounds like a good story." My head leaned on his shoulder as his warmth and soft voice lulled me into a feeling of comfort.

"Yeah. Just don't fall off the edge… That is a good way to twist your ankle."

A laugh escaped my mouth before I could help it. I had always seen a lot of Daisuke in my boyfriend and this story proved they had to be related in some weird fashion. What were the odds of them both loving soccer, being head strong, and enjoying falling off cliff sides? Another laugh shook my chest and I gave Tai a small smile, "Oh come on, it is a little funny."

"You think that is funny, huh?" He turned his head away from me and looked down at the grass.

"Yeah. Pretty much." I noticed his expression change slightly and leaned in to get a better view of the emotion behind it. "You okay?"

Without another word his face inched forward and closed the gap. I felt his lips on mine and smiled against their familiar pressure. After spending so much time confined in the same area and not being able to touch, the excitement of being free overwhelmed us. Taichi leaned backwards and pulled my body down onto his by using his free hand to drag my shirt towards him. I went down easy and kissed the side of his neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist. In the sky above us I could see the first firecracker pop and fizzle in the humid summer night sky.

"It's beautiful." I mumbled as a few more shimmery friends joined the first colorful burst.

Taichi took advantage of my distraction to nip at my ear. "You should see the big finish."

"Really?" I stared at his eyes and couldn't help but match his goofy grin, "Is it worth missing an amazing fireworks show?"

"You tell me." He laughed happily and I instantly flashbacked to the first time I had heard that sound. "I have been told the private shows are far better than any old fireworks."

Honestly, I had never seen a real firework show before and as we crawled into our tent for the night, that record remained steady. Sure, I had caught a glimpse or two of the bright lights but most of my attention had been focused on a certain brunet and his ability to push me into situations I never would have imagined. Despite the various anime programs that ran across the television, my real life relationship had never been as bold or wild. If it wasn't for Taichi's exotic and slightly crazy side, we probably would have spent our entire relationship showing affection only behind closed doors.

"You sure seem happy, Yamato." Hikari ventured the statement innocently and seemed confused by my slight aversion to her stare. "Did you like the show? Tai said he was going to show you one of the best spots in the area."

"Yeah." I kept my face trained on the sleeping bag I was rolling out in one of the two tents. "It was a show I'll never forget."

The answer pleased the girl and she turned her attention to the other boys as they returned from the western styled bathhouse offered by the campground. Takeru had a toiletry bag clutched in his hand while Daisuke and Ken merely held their purchases from the camp store. Lucky for them, the tiny store had been stocked with a few basic essentials such as toothbrushes and toothpaste. As they reached the tents, I watched them look from one tent to the other. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought the tents ran a size smaller then advertised.

"How are we going to split up?" Said Daisuke, whose face looked better now that some time had passed and he hadn't irritated Taichi in the past few hours. "Three to a tent?"

Across Tai's face I could read his determined attempt not to launch into another Daisuke and Ken lecture. He had handled the changes to our plan better since the fireworks show. I couldn't help but think our own moment had helped bring out that abrupt change in his mood. We hadn't gotten a chance to be close in at least a week or two and I knew from past experience that Taichi's, normally stable, personality turned a bit more aggressive when faced with such restrictions. Did he miss that part of his relationship with Sora? When they had dated, he had been able to hold her hand or kiss her in public. Although the thrill of a secret romance had been evident during our first few months together, I wondered if it had lost some of its luster now.

"How about, Ken, Tai, and I in the red and Hikari, Takeru, and Daisuke in the blue?"

The group mulled the idea over and I couldn't help but think they were too concerned with who would sleep where. After the driving, festival, and almost witnessing Daisuke's murder at the hands of my boyfriend, I was more than ready to crawl into my sleeping bag and pass out. Taichi watched me as I took the initiative and crawled into the red tent. He was smart enough to realize that the current suggestion put him far away from Daisuke and left no chance for Hikari and Takeru to do anything he wouldn't approve of, since Daisuke would be right there.

I'm not sure how long the group talked outside the tent, but a while later I felt a warm arm lay across my sleeping bag and pull my body closer to the other bag. The scent was familiar and I snuggled inside my make shift bed as Taichi started to softly snore. This road trip hadn't been like I expected in the first day alone but, all in all, it wasn't a horrible day. Maybe, in some weird way, we could make this work out. The thought made me smile and I shifted in my bag so I could look at Taichi's face once more before closing my eyes.

* * *

**They deserved a tiny bit of fluff, don't you think? : ). Also, I didn't think about doing this before, but Chromate reminded me it might be a good idea to let the readers know that some of the characters will have their English dub names used as nicknames. For example, Taichi or Tai. The only one that won't be offered his English dub name is Yamato. I like Yama better than Matt anyway lol. Hope it didn't confuse you guys too much. **

**By the way, Natori is a real place that did in fact hold a summer festival with fireworks. After the horrible disasters that passed through Japan, Natori was all but destroyed by massive waves. : (. I don't know if you guys and gals are religious, but if you feel the need think good thoughts for the people affected by the disasters. I know I am going to keep them in my thoughts and prayers. **


	7. Purple People Eater

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.**

**Points to Krikanalo for getting the show correct! I sense a fellow theater nerd in my midst. : ) Thank you to my readers and reviewers, as well! **

**I am trying a new title for this story, 'A fork in the road'. Please tell me if it is horrible or not, I have little skills when it comes to naming stories lol.**

* * *

I woke up earlier then usual, a common side effect of stress or amorous activities, and pulled a hooded sweatshirt over my thin t-shirt. Taichi was sprawled in the middle of the floor, half of his body in the sleeping bag and half free from its clutches. Unlike me, who could already feel a chilled morning wind attempting to infiltrate the tent, he appeared to be displeased by the small bit of covers still concealing his waist down. As I ran my hands through my disheveled hair, I watched him grumble in his sleep and kick the covers down a few more inches. The noise wasn't loud, but I glanced towards Ken's side of the tent out of habit. His sleeping bag was already rolled up and he was nowhere to be found in the tiny space.

After grabbing my toiletry bag from the side-strap backpack leaning against the tent wall, I crawled out and braced myself for the early morning chill. Natori was close enough to the water that a small breeze was not unexpected. If I focused on the wind my brain could almost make out the faint smell of water. It was a familiar scent and forced my eyes to shut for a moment of quiet relaxation. For once, no one was talking and everything was peaceful.

"Hey Yamato."

I cracked an eye open and spotted Takeru and Ken perched against the van's back bumper. Between the two of them was a medium-sized backpack filled with what appeared to be various articles of clothing. Ken was holding a list in his hand and seemed very determined as he jotted down a few more things. He looked up as I neared their group and offered me a polite welcome. Had it been a little later in the day, I would have put forth the effort to give him a proper greeting in return.

Instead of saying anything, I nodded my head casually and looked at the bag in Takeru's hands, "What are you two doing?"

"Making a list of the things we need to pick up at the store. Ken and Daisuke have almost everything they need, but a few pieces are missing."

Takeru leaned over the bag and pointed to something on Ken's list. Morbid curiosity overtook me and I watched to see if Ken would flinch or offer some kind of surprised gesture. When my crush on Taichi had been first formed, I had been aware of every move he made and breath he took while in my sight. Yes, it was pathetic. Of course, I had been a pathetic teenager at the time, so it worked out. But Ken didn't appear startled in the slightest when Takeru moved towards him. In fact, he was able to stare straight at the boy and speak calmly and intelligibly. Was I wrong about my hunch or was this just another piece of proof that Ken was more mature than all of us put together? It was too early to do the math, so I pushed the question out of my brain.

When I came back from a drastically needed hot shower and change of clothes, Taichi and Daisuke still hadn't woken up. Hikari was sitting on a large rock near the fire pit and seemed to be battling a strong desire to fall back asleep. I handed her a juice from the food container and went to gather up my stuff in the tent. After loading my sleeping bag and Ken's into the car, I noticed the boy in question was handing out some of the pre-packaged breakfast foods. He waltzed back to the car to grab another juice for Takeru and I couldn't help but reach out to him.

"I don't think Taichi really meant you had to do all that work. He was just pissed off yesterday."

"No," Ken handed me a juice and pulled out another one for my brother, "He is right. The least we can do is help out. Besides, I don't mind doing these things."

"Well, you shouldn't have to do them alone." His speech inspired me and I gave him my juice before marching to the other tent.

Inside the blue tent, Daisuke was mimicking Tai's behaviors once again. He had only one leg left in the sleeping bag and the rest of his limbs were strewn haphazardly on the floor of the tent. Out of his mouth came a snore louder than I thought was humanly possible. For a minute or two, I assumed he was joking with me. No one could actually have an ability to snore that horribly, right? Daisuke mumbled something in his sleep and I nudged his foot with my shoe. When he didn't respond, I nudged it a little harder and his arms swiped out at whatever force he imagined was near him.

"Stop it Jun…"

I rolled my eyes and picked up on the noise of Taichi stirring in the other tent. If the brunet of slumber land was getting up, then it was far past time for everyone else to be getting up too. I called his name firmly and nudged the foot once again. Even though I doubted Taichi would make them work the whole trip, it wouldn't start the day off well if Daisuke made us all late again.

"Wake up Daisuke. We have to get moving." I nudged his foot once more and the boy's leg shot out instinctively. "Ow! Damnit Daisuke."

The green Earth met my butt rather quickly as I stumbled out of the tent. For a skinny kid, he had an impressive ankle kick. I rubbed the sore joint and scowled at the brunet who I had vouched for the night before. From behind me, I could hear a giggle or two and Taichi's voice asking about what the heck I was doing. The question was ignored as my brain focused on the goal at hand. With new determination I marched into the tent, picked up his ankles, and drug the kid out into the world.

The sunlight streaming through the trees seemed to be the right wake-up call for Daisuke. He rubbed his eyes and arched his back since I still had his ankles in my grasp. When I dropped them coolly on the ground, he sat up and offered me a look that would have killed me, if such things were possible. Behind our scene was a small chorus of laughs and the joyous noise only served to tick him off further.

"What the heck?" He yawned through the words and stood up from the dirty ground slowly. "Couldn't you have just said 'get up'?"

"I did."

"Wait…" He thought about it for a moment and seemed to be regaining his higher order thinking ability. "Was that you hitting my foot? I thought it was just a dream…"

As if on cue, my ankle throbbed and I turned my attention away from Daisuke. Now that he was on his feet and moving in a somewhat steady pace to the bathroom, I figured we would be okay. Suddenly, Hikari's exhausted face made complete sense. I was amazed she had gotten any sleep at all in that tent. We were going to have to do something about Daisuke's sleeping habit, but I wasn't going to think about it now. Until my ankle stopped throbbing the only idea I could fathom was tying him to a tree each night.

By the time we located a 100-yen shop, our schedule was still in tact. Takeru, Daisuke, and Ken were sent off to find the things on the list the boys had made earlier. I felt a little better about our two new guests, because Takeru was with them. I had faith in the fact he and Ken would keep Daisuke in line and hopefully talk him out of any questionable purchases. We had already passed a display covered with loud, cheap toys and I prayed the boys hadn't noticed it. The last thing Taichi, or I for that matter, needed was a rowdy group of kids blowing horns or shooting dart guns in the car.

"Got ya!"

I felt something hit my head and bounce off within seconds of Taichi's giddy shout. On the floor was a small Ping-Pong ball that I assumed was the bullet of choice for Tai's new toy. Maybe, I would have been better off going with Daisuke and the others. Taichi laughed heartily and showed me his new find with childish glee. I recognized the shiny blue gun from the display at the front of the store and tried to decide if I would be better off shooting him back or hiding the toy from him.

"We ask that you do not play with the merchandise." A tall, middle-aged woman made the call for me as she glared at Taichi through her half-moon glasses. "Since you broke the packaging, you will have to pay for the item."

"Uh…" Apparently, Taichi hadn't expected to be caught. He smiled at her nervously and followed her to the check out counter. "Yes, I understand."

"Yamato," Hikari called out to me from an aisle a few feet away and motioned for me to follow her, "I found the tents for you."

I pocketed the ball, that definitely had Taichi's name and revenge on it, and headed off to see what she had found in the tiny store. Between Taichi's new toy purchase and whatever the other boys were buying, our budget amount for frivolous items was going fast. I could only hope the tents were going to run in the cheap to dirt-cheap range.

None of the tents, as it turned out, had been built for anything besides indoor camping children or families of twelve. The tent failure turned out to be a surprisingly good situation, because the others had been more than happy to buy multiple random trinkets that we didn't need. Under my legs in the front passenger seat was one of our original tents, boxed up. The seat was pushed close to the air bag and I used the limited space to rest my book on the glove compartment.

Honestly, I had it easier than some of the kids in the back of the van. Takeru, Ken, and Daisuke were squeezed into the row directly behind Taichi and I. Their floor space was lightly coated with supplies and between their bodies were the pillows they had each purchased from the store. In the last row was an exhausted Hikari trying to overcome a small migraine. She claimed it was just a little head pain from a lack of sleep, but Taichi had been adamant that she rest just in case it was a sign of something more serious. As he drove the pre-determined route for the day, I noticed him sparing nervous glances to his rearview mirror every so often. Why did a simple headache worry him so much? It wasn't like Kari had complained about great pain. Either way, he seemed to be preparing himself for some horrible outcome.

"She is fine, Taichi." I looked up from a particularly dry monologue to stare at his face. "She told you that she would say something if she felt worse."

He didn't say anything back to me, but I was almost certain he heard me. The amber eyes glanced once more to his mirror and then back to the road. When I had first gotten to know Taichi, his little sister hadn't been around much. I hadn't thought too much about it since most of our first interactions were in school or at my apartment. Why would he bring his baby sister over to my house when we were just working on a school assignment? The funny thing about Taichi's childhood stories was that they had rarely included Hikari. Almost every memory he had shared with me had Hikari in some other location, asleep, or not born yet. I looked back at the monologue in my book but couldn't shake the new realization that I had never noticed this plot hole in Taichi's life story.

Luckily for the worried Taichi, the next stop wasn't too far from Natori. We rolled into Tono around eleven thirty and were immediately greeted by a bizarre statue. When Taichi parked the car, everyone hustled out to examine the creature and try to make some sense out of the green beast. A large lily pad rested on its head and dipped downward to partially cover the beak protruding from its face. Overall, the creature had a human-ish body with two arms and two legs, but the tortoise-shell on its back and large webbed hands squelched any other similarities.

"It is a kappa." Ken announced.

"How do you know what frog boy is?" Daisuke walked up to the statue and knocked on its leg.

"I'm guessing he read the plaque." Takeru laughed as Daisuke's face scrunched into a slightly embarrassed expression. "I heard about kappa once before. Aren't they some kind of mythical creature?"

"Whatever they are, they sure are popular…" Taichi pointed out at least five other paintings and statues within our line of sight.

When we stopped at a modest sized restaurant a while later, we found out the kappa theme was even more prevalent than any of us had imagined. Personally, I hadn't been to keen on a place that had painted their awning and outside areas to resemble a giant kappa head. There was something strange and slightly distasteful about walking through something's mouth to get to food. But the rest of the group had been thrilled about the building's originality and demanded we at least look into it.

They seated us on the porch out back and I noticed several homemade fishing poles leaning against the railing. Since we were the only customers, aside from a few people inside the restaurant, I assumed they must have belonged to the staff. The river below our deck was close enough to see and I doubted anything substantial lived in the shallow stream. Surely, they didn't use the creatures caught in the lake to cook? The idea of eating some salamander shaped animal sent a shiver of disgust down my spine. Creative cooking was one thing, but strange river animal cuisine was another.

"What is that?"

Taichi's voice brought my attention away from the water and back to the returning members of the group. While Taichi, Hikari, and I watched the table the boys had decided to investigate the gift shop. Each of them, my brother included, sported a small brown bag as they took seats at the wrought iron table. Ken pulled his purchase out first and seemed rather excited about the book he had discovered. The title was written in large print and a grainy photograph was unevenly placed on the cover.

"They had a fascinating book about the history of kappa's and a few other cryptids."

I looked at Taichi and he glanced back with equal confusion. Up until that day, I had never heard about a mythical duck turtle thing. Admitting that I had no clue what Ken was talking about was a bit embarrassing though. As an eighteen-year-old exam passing adult I should have known what a cryptid was. Then again, local legends hadn't been to big of a category on the college entrance exam.

"A cryptid is an animal that supposedly exists but science doesn't believe in, right?" Hikari surpassed both of us and answered Ken's statement correctly.

"Exactly," Ken smiled at her and read a few pieces of information from the book. "Kappa are river creatures who are often mischievous in large and small ways. They are often blamed for the drownings of children or women. They are said to drag them down to the bottom and eat their livers or drink their bloo-"

"Woah," Daisuke interjected and pointed to the menu he had stared at, "Some of us are trying to think about food over here."

"Go ahead Ken," Taichi leaned forward in his seat and watched the younger man with curious eyes.

"Well, they aren't always bad. If you can convince them to bow they might lose the water stored on their lily pad hat. Without the water they freeze in place, but if you give them water from their home stream or river they will serve you for the rest of your days. Some people believe that if you offer them cucumbers they will leave you alone while you swim."

"That explains all the cucumber dishes on the menu." I mumbled as the rest of the group gave the waiter their orders. "How would something that lives in a stream get a taste for cucumbers anyway?"

"It isn't wise to mock the kappa." Our waiter, an elderly man with a long beard and receding hairline, took up the menus and directed our attention to the unmanned fishing polls. "In the old days, families would write the names of their children on cucumbers and cast them into the water. They prayed that the kappa would be pleased with the offering and leave their children alone when they ventured into the water. The kappa are monstrous creatures and must be taken seriously."

"You really believe in them?" Daisuke asked the man and earned a stern look from the elder.

"I believe," His voice took on a mystical quality as he stared at each of us in turn, "That you should be aware of everything. Especially the things you can't prove aren't real."

When he left the table a silence settled over the group. It was ridiculous, but the way he had spoken about those kappa creatures had actually made me think about all the mythical creatures I had been told about. There had never been any evidence to support or deny their existence, but at some point I had stopped believing. It had been a long time since I worried about a monster under my bed or some fairy giving me money for teeth. This man, on the other hand, had managed to keep that faith alive for years. Did that make him a loon or a dedicated believer in the unknown? Wouldn't he have been considered a loyal person if his belief was in anything besides cryptids?

Hikari stood up from the table and walked closer to the fishing rods. By the time I had joined her at the railing, she had pulled up one line just enough to see the cucumber attached to the end. She handed me the string and I pulled it up a little further so she could get a picture and we could see what was written on it. After a quick photo we stared at the faded writing on the vegetable and she read the word aloud, "Beware."

"That is a little foreboding." Takeru piped up from the table.

"Well," Ken shrugged his shoulders and pointed at some line in his book, "Other people believe that being around or eating cucumbers is a sure way to be attacked by the kappa."

"Couldn't have mentioned that before I ordered the cucumber roll?" Hikari laughed softly, but I could see a little bit of nerves in her face. Did she believe in these creatures? If Ken and Hikari seemed to question their existence, maybe I should have payed a little more attention to the old man.

When the time came to pull out of kappa land, I was more than ready to hit the road. The longer we had stared at the various statutes, paintings, and massive amount of merchandise the more I found myself disliking the creature. Maybe it was its fickle personality, ready to crush your bones or leave you gifts? Then again, maybe it was just the fact I was pissed at myself for letting the story get under my skin. Believing in a turtle duck was idiotic, but I still found myself staring at the water a little closer as we drove towards the beach.

Hikari's headache had lightened after we ate lunch, but she was feeling much worse by that night. It was a shame in my opinion, since she was unable to really enjoy the first night at the Miyako beach. It had been because of Hikari that we agreed to spend a day at the beach. When she saw the listing on the maps she had practically begged us to make that one of the pit stops. Apparently, as she had explained to me before the trip, if a town shares a name with your friend you have to stop there and send them a photograph or other souvenir. Taichi and I had been on board since hanging out at the beach was a cheap source of fun and romance.

Now that Taichi was trying to convince his sister to take some pain killers, the boys were trying to set up the tents in the shifting sand, and I was searching for the medical supplies in the back of the van the romance and fun had sort of waned. We had allotted two nights at the beach and one day so I took a little comfort in the fact Hikari would be able to enjoy tomorrow. She probably could have enjoyed a little of the first night too, if Taichi had of backed off of her.

"Look, I should let mom know." He pleaded for the fifth time as I brought them the medicine container. "She'll be worried."

"She won't be worried unless we call her. I just need to sleep this off, Taichi. It is just a little headache." Hikari smiled at me, but Taichi didn't even notice I existed at that moment. "Thank you for the medicine, Yamato."

"Your welcome." I watched Taichi launch into another worried speech and felt sympathy for Hikari. Why couldn't he just give her an aspirin and let her sleep it off? Why did he make it seem like such a big deal?

"I think she is okay Taichi." Big mistake.

"She isn't okay, Yamato." He turned his nervous energy on me and I took a step back. "Okay people aren't in pain. Okay people didn't go through…"

"Through?"

He sighed and shook his head, "Never-mind. Just call Jou, okay? Ask him if she can have more than the recommended dose of these pills. I won't call mom this time, but if it gets worse or happens again I am phoning her right away."

The last part of his comment wasn't meant for me, so I grabbed the pill bottle and walked away from the duo to phone Jou. I wasn't surprised that Taichi wanted Jou's opinion on something medical; he was brilliant when it came to first aid and he was the only educated figure we could call without the parents finding out. The sudden shift in his mood had been a little unsettling though. If he would have given me just a little bit of information about what was so scary about Hikari having a headache, I would have been able to avoid antagonizing him. What was it that he didn't want to talk about? It had to be pretty big if he wasn't willing to talk about it with anyone.

"Hello?" I heard someone pick up on the second ring and was surprised when a female voice answered, "Sora?"

"Yamato? How is the trip going? Is everything okay?"

"It's fine…" I could hear a lot of noise and laughter in the background and wondered what was going on back home. "Why are you answering Jou's phone?"

"Hang on." I heard her say something to whoever she was with then the noises grew quieter, "Sorry about that. It turns out that Jou's grandparents are old friends of my grandmother, so they came over to have dinner with us. He is being tortured by my inquisitive relatives so I took the phone for him."

I had seen Sora's relatives in action and laughed at the mental image of Jou being asked a million questions a minute.

"So, what's up?"

"Oh," I remembered the task at hand and looked at the pill bottle in my hand, "Taichi wanted to ask Jou if Hikari could have a certain amount of this medicine. She has a headache and-"

"Poor Tai." Sora's soft voice interrupted.

"Excuse me?"

"How bad is her headache? I hope it isn't like when she was a little kid. Poor Taichi must be worried sick that it is starting over."

Wait. Sora knew about this mystery event? I couldn't understand how she seemed to comprehend the exact thought process of my boyfriend, while I struggled along behind them. What had happened to make them so fearful of Hikari's headache? If it was as big of an event as it seemed, shouldn't I have heard something about it before? The pit of my stomach shifted uncomfortably as I thought about the fact I had shared so much with Taichi, but he had apparently been keeping some of his past to himself. Well, himself and Sora. I swallowed back the strange feeling and tried to focus on helping Hikari.

"It seems to be an average headache. Sora, my battery is dying. Could you please have Jou call us back when he is free? I don't want to use the battery up by talking too long."

"Sure Yamato."

I hung up the call and looked down at my screen. Beside the full battery bar was a stable three bar connection signal. At least the beach would give us good cell service if we needed to call for any kind of medical help. Behind me Taichi called for me to come over and tell him what Jou had said. I pocketed the phone, swallowed back another dose of negative thoughts, and marched back to the man I no longer believed I knew inside and out.

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**Okay, there is another chapter for you guys. If any of you are trying to follow the road trip on a map, I applaud your dedication and ask that you forgive me for my time issues. The kappa really are a big thing in Tono, Japan. They will come back in future chapters, so don't think that you just wasted a few minutes of your life reading this chapter lol. : ).**

**I hope to see you guys and gals back for the next installment. Thanks for reading! **


	8. Monster Mash

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**Thanks for the reviews and readings guys and gals! Here comes the next installment…**

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When I was thirteen years old, I realized that I was different then the boys in my class, in the school, and in the world. Back in the day, I assumed that there was no other boy in the universe who wasn't looking at the girls. The few friends I had in school constantly talked about the girls and what they looked like or smelled like. I couldn't understand it. Weren't these the same girls we had spent the past summer break making faces at when they pointed and giggled at us? What was so special about the girls? They were more trouble then they were worth at that age, in my opinion. Every time I was partnered with one of them for a project, they would babble or stare at me and offer little help on the assignment. Worse still, the people I _did_ want to spend time with, the ones that made my heart pound anxiously and wonderfully, were royally ticked that I had spent so much time with the girl they liked.

I looked away from the tent roof and spared Taichi and Hikari a glance. Taichi was laying on his stomach with one arm reaching out to Hikari and one arm stretched towards me. In his left hand he clutched the edge of Hikari's sleeping bag. Even in his sleep Tai was the type of brother I couldn't help but admire. He truly loved that little girl and even someone like me could sense the bond between them. Taichi's other arm was bent at the elbow and his palm rested warmly on my collarbone.

I closed my eyes for a moment and thought about the first time someone had touched me there. He had been my neighbor and best friend between the ages of seven to nine. That little raven-haired boy with bright brown eyes had been my first crush. One day after a convenience store run for ice cream, only one to share between us since we were woeful recipients of low allowances, he started talking about love. He claimed that love was something that lasted forever and frowned at me when I told him that was a lie. Nothing, not even love, lasted forever. Instead of arguing with me or calling me a name, he had placed his hand on my collarbone and gave me one soft kiss. Even now the memory of that first kiss forced a smile on my lips. When he had explained that he loved me and that he would forever, I had actually agreed with his statement. Despite everything my family had taught me about love being a silly, trivial thing, I had agreed that we would love each other forever. Three days later, he moved away with his mother and I never saw him again. But if I was honest, I could still feel the love for my first crush locked away with all of my other treasured childhood memories.

"Hey. Wake up sleepy head."

Taichi's voice entered my brain slowly and I shifted in my sleeping bag. As my eyes opened, I saw his large amber ones watching me curiously. He captured my lips in a soft kiss and smiled happily. It was nice to feel his body so close to mine, but something was wrong with this picture. The last thing I remembered was Taichi going to bed in a slightly subdued state of fear. How was he back to his goofy self now?

"Where is everyone?" I tried to spare a glance towards the other side of the tent, unsure if Hikari would still be there or not.

"Outside. We already had breakfast, but you looked so tired I didn't want to wake you." He sat up and tried to pull my tired body into a similar sitting position. "Come on Yamato, we are going to make a sand castle and all that stuff. Get your swimsuit on and join us."

By the time I had dressed in an appropriate beach outfit and exited the tent, Takeru and Hikari were busily creating the sandcastle Taichi had mentioned. A smile was placed firmly on her lips and she seemed to be having a great time playing with my brother. The more I tried to make sense of things the more dream like they became. Was it possible that I had imagined the whole sickness event? No, I glanced at my phone and noticed the text Jou had sent to tell Taichi about the medicine, I hadn't imagined it.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" Taichi laughed and shot me with his Ping-Pong ball gun from the day before.

"You better run Yagami!" I shouted back at him and took off in the sand.

By lunchtime I had earned a good dose of sun and a pretty fun day. Daisuke and Ken had managed to wrangle us a dirt-cheap deal to ride on one of the local's boats. 'Maybe they will earn their keep after all?' Taichi had whispered to me when the others boarded the boat. I had smiled knowingly at him, but kept my mouth shut since Hikari had offered her brother a slightly disapproving look. On par for the rest of the day, Taichi sat himself away from Hikari and seemed to be giving her only an average amount of attention.

While the others watched the fish swimming past the boat, I watched the Yagami siblings. When Hiakri had complained of a mere headache, Taichi jumped on her in a heart beat and demanded they alert every adult in his phone. Now that she apparently felt a hundred percent better, according to Takeru, Taichi's personality mellowed out and shifted back to the fun-loving daredevil. It still didn't explain the behavior and it did nothing to squelch my uneasy feelings about Sora knowing a secret I wasn't privy to. As I stared at the brunet laughing with Daisuke and Takeru over some odd-looking fish in the water, I couldn't bring myself to approach the topic. It wasn't worth breaking their blissful mood now. It was better just to shove the feeling away and enjoy my time with Taichi and the others. Which is exactly what I did… at least, I did that as long as I could.

When the sun started to set, Hikari and I volunteered to take dinner duty for the night. Originally it had been my idea, but she demanded that it wasn't right for me to do all the work alone. So I quickly found myself attempting to start a small fire while she handed me various pieces of kindling. The smile on her face was still as prominent as it had been that morning, though it was now coated in a light pink haze due to a lack of sunscreen. After I got a nice blaze going, Hikari looked away from the task and took a photo of the other boys playing chicken in the water.

"Yamato?"

I looked away from Takeru trying to push Ken over and looked at Hikari, "Yes?"

"Thanks for not being angry with Taichi and I."

The statement sent me for a loop for a moment or two. I expected Hikari to be apologetic even when she did nothing wrong, since her very nature was the epitome of over conscientiousness. Why would she apologize for Taichi? She didn't know that I was silently worrying over the fact Sora knew something about my boyfriend that I didn't. Had I been too obvious that something was bothering me? It was possible that she was just trying to use a cover all apology, because she knew something was off but not what that something was.

"Of course I'm not angry." I threw a few more pieces of kindling into the fire, "You guys did nothing wrong."

She smiled, that famous all-knowing and not revealing smile, and handed me the package of marshmallows, "Taichi gets a little nervous when I don't feel well. But he really is enjoying the trip. I know he didn't mean to ignore you last night."

The bag rested unopened on my lap as I watched her face. So Hikari had noticed that I wasn't exactly all there today. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I sort of was at the same time. Taichi hadn't noticed anything but his baby sister was already tuned in to the uneasy feelings. Would it be wrong to ask her about the big secret? She already knew that something was wrong and that it dealt with Taichi and I. Besides, if I asked Hikari I wouldn't have to bug Taichi about it and bring down his mood or make him relive that panic. On the other hand, it probably was poor taste to ask Hikari about her past issues.

"Yamato? Are you okay?" She placed a hand on my shoulder and my resolve broke.

"Yeah. I was just surprised how upset Taichi was over the headache. He and Sora seemed so afraid that it meant something horrible."

"That is my fault." Hikari's voice dropped to a whisper like register and I cursed myself for even bringing the topic up. "I'm afraid I worried them a great deal when we were younger."

"Hikari… I… You really don't have to talk about it. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"No, it's okay." She shifted into her considerate smile and I felt my self-opinion dip lower and lower. "You see, I had a lot of migraines when I was a very little girl. I tried to hide it from my brother and parents because I didn't want to upset them. But one day I collapsed at Taichi's soccer game and had to go to the hospital."

"What happened?" The words dripped out of my mouth as my last bit of self-resolve vanished.

"Well, they said I had a very serious disease and I had to spend a rather long time in the hospital. Taichi visited me everyday but, no matter what I did or said to him, he was always so sad. I wish I could make him feel better."

My mouth opened to say something in reply, but it closed when the group trudged up the beach and sat around the fire. Taichi sat directly next to me and let the side of his body rest against mine. A smile coated his lips and he seemed to be having such a great time that I couldn't help but grin in return. He and Daisuke flew into a playful argument about who would get the most marshmallows and I looked back to Hikari. She smiled at me as if we had just been talking about the weather and I decoded the silent message attached. Neither of us wanted to venture down a path loaded with negativity tonight. Maybe someday we would talk about it more, but we weren't going to spoil the beautiful mood today.

The fire was brilliantly bright once the sun finally sunk below the horizon. We were the only group on this particular stretch of beach, so Taichi claimed my shoulders as his personal arm rest and held me close against his body. A soft breeze flitted past our group every so often and reminded me how thankful I was to have a warm lover to sit beside me. While I roasted another marshmallow for Taichi, the boy tried to tutor our younger companions in ghost stories.

"When she exited the car the next morning," He used his free hand to motion in the air above the fire, "The dead body was on top of her car, with its hand hitting the window!"

"How did a dead body tap on the window?" Takeru raised an eyebrow and bit into his roasted marshmallow.

"The wind made it move. Just like when it made the howling sound."

"But you said there was no wind that night and it was perfectly silent minus the thumping noise?" Ken spoke up and placed a hand to his chin as if he was mentally going over Taichi's story.

"Fine. If you guys think you can do better, go ahead!" He pouted slightly but broke the foul expression when I handed him his food.

"Alright." Daisuke grinned wickedly and took on a shadowy aura with the fireside glow decorating his tan face. "This one is about a young couple who decided to celebrate their anniversary on the beach…"

Although the story was a remake of an old film, Daisuke sold it pretty well since he changed the inflection of his voice with ease and stared at each of us in turn. The crazy glow in his eyes magnified the story's terror potential and forced Hikari to take hold of Takeru's hand. Taichi seemed to enjoy the story and let his thumb trace circles on the part of my shoulder not covered by a tank top. For my part, I listened half-heartedly and kept my eyes on the fire until Daisuke mentioned the word 'kappa'.

"They were attacked by a kappa?" To be fair, it was stupid to critique that part of his story when I hadn't said a word about the fact the heroine had breasts the size of watermelons.

"Not just any kappa," He whispered the words and forced everyone to lean in close so we could hear him over the sounds of the water and birds. "This kappa had been mutated by years of swimming around in water polluted by humans. In its mouth were rows of shark like fangs and on the end of its webbed feet were jagged claws built to gut anyone who got too close."

Hikari's eyes were wide and I was almost certain Daisuke had pulled Ken into this story as well. Taichi's hand had stopped rubbing my shoulder and now clutched it in excitement. The boy had a hard grip and I furrowed my brow hoping Daisuke's story would reach an end soon. If he pulled out any bigger stunts Hikari was likely to freak and Taichi would snap my arm off. Thankfully, the teenager's brow dipped down and he lowered his voice to the deepest tone yet. Surely, I figured, that was a sign his turn was almost over.

"After their fight, the girl decided to set up her campsite on the other end of the beach. She found a small cave and bunkered down for the night. She woke up when something wet touched her foot and assumed it was her boyfriend trying to play a practical joke. But when she shined her flashlight on it, she found her boyfriend's dead body touching her foot."

Hikari let out a small surprised sound and sat closer to Takeru, who seemed as interested in the story as Ken and Taichi.

"When she moved the flashlight a little lower, she found the wet feeling was his blood. And sitting on her boyfriend's chest, covered in his blood, and staring at her with wild eyes was… the **mutated kappa**!"

Daisuke threw sand on the dying fire and the only source of light went out. In the darkness a few of the group mumbled or let out shocked noises. Blind, except for the small bit of moonlight, my hands tried to find the flashlight on the sand. Why they were surprised by the kappa attack was a mystery to me. Daisuke had slipped up and told us it was coming a minute before the reveal. Taichi grabbed the light first and shined it on Daisuke's face as a strange cry echoed through our beach camp. Had I not been watching Daisuke's face when the guttural cry sounded, I would have been sure it was just him trying to scare us.

"What was that?" Hikari asked with fear painted on each word as Taichi shined the flashlight on her and Takeru.

"A bird or something, most likely."

"That didn't sound like any bird I heard before." Daisuke missed the fact I had tried to comfort Hikari and shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe the real kappa is pissed Yamato made fun of him?"

"Please, if anyone here deserves to be kappa food it is you." I rolled my eyes and turned back to Hikari now that Taichi had handed me the other flashlight, "Don't worry Kari, they aren't real. There are other campsites a few miles away and those campers probably just got a little loud."

"Didn't sound human to me…" Daisuke mumbled under his breath as he, Ken, and Takeru headed off to their tent for the night.

That night I dreamt about Daisuke's stupid tale. I saw myself watching the over-breasted woman run across the sand from a kappa hybrid. Its fangs were twice as large as the teenager had described and when it pounced on the woman I couldn't help but flinch at the sight and the scream. The scream in particular was more real than anything I had ever heard in my dreams. As I opened my eyes, I could still feel the stinging in my ears from the unpleasant sound.

"What the…" Taichi sat up from our cuddle position and stared at the tent door.

Was it possible he had heard a scream too? If Tai heard the sound then it hadn't been a dream. Someone was actually being attacked by a kappa or at the least screaming because of some other horror. I tried to unzip my sleeping bag but the zipper caught on my shorts and refused to move one way or the other. Taichi bailed out of his bag and shouted something about the shadow on the other side of the door. I only caught a quick glance, but it definitely looked otherworldly with its bizarre head shape and webbed hands. Wait. My brain pulled back into action and I couldn't help but wonder, for a moment or two, if that old waiter had been smarter than I thought. Could there actually be a kappa?

"Wait, Tai!" I shouted after him as he fought the tent door and flew out of our shelter.

I still don't understand how the next course of action played out. From what I was able to gather, Taichi's foot hit the small rim at the bottom of the tent door, he stumbled forward and hit a blowup creature, wrestled the creature to the ground, and was hit by the incoming tide. At least that was what the four guilty looking teenagers tried to tell me when I finally made it out of the tent.

Taichi spat out some of the water that had infiltrated his mouth and stared at the object he had tackled. Instead of a vicious kappa bent on eating our livers and drinking our blood, his hands held a plastic doll in their death grip. At least, in Taichi's defense, the doll was shaped like a kappa. He tossed the floating toy aside and glared at Takeru and Daisuke.

In my brother's hands was the video camera he had brought along to document our trip. Daisuke stood next to him with a flashlight in hand and offered Taichi a sheepish grin. In the ankle-deep water, Ken and Hikari were trying to help Taichi up. Neither of the two would look at his eyes, but that was probably for the best. Even I was a little unnerved by the anger flowing across Taichi's tanned face.

"What the hell is going on here?!" He shouted at the teens.

"Well," Takeru tried to smooth over the situation, "We thought Daisuke's story might make a pretty neat movie. So we started filming a kappa attack…"

"And the scream?" Taichi's voice never broke its annoyed tone.

"Sorry." Hikari blushed as she and Ken shrugged their shoulders, "We were trying to be quiet, but something rubbed against my leg and well…"

The grumbles that escaped Taichi's mouth didn't sound Japanese, or human for that matter. He rubbed his face in frustration and seemed to fight the urge to destroy the teenagers were they stood. I was impressed with his self-control and watched him pull out his cell phone from his pocket. It had seemed like such a good idea to keep his alarm next to his body at the time. Now that the device was dripping wet and pretty much done for, it seemed rather stupid. Still, Taichi handled it like a champ. He frowned and grumbled some more alien words but didn't attack.

"If it is any consolation," Daisuke slid off the rock he and Takeru had filmed from and put in his application for death, "You were the best thing we filmed all night!"

A cry far worse than the mystery animal broke the night as Taichi tackled Daisuke and attempted to beat some sense into his fuzzy brown head.

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**Poor Daisuke, lol. I promise I am not trying to bash him. He is just a lot of fun to write because he is so bold and energetic. Now you see why I bored you with the history of kappas : ). The next chapter will be filled with more misadventures and some new emotions. Here is a very, very tiny sneak peek;**

"_**Back away from the car, sir." His voice was firm and demanded immediate action.**_

"_**This is just a big misunderstanding, officer. We didn't ki-" I kept my hands up and tried to assure the man that we meant no harm to anybody. **_

"_**I said, step away from the car." His hand gripped hold of the gun in his holster and silenced my protest, but increased my annoyance with one member of our rag-tag group.**_


	9. Do You Want To Know A Secret?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**All right, here is the next installment of 'A Fork In The Road'. **

**Thank you to my lovely readers and reviewers! This one might be a tad long, but hopefully it is worth it. : )**

* * *

Taichi didn't sleep for the rest of the night. The bruises on my legs and abdomen from his thrashing about were undeniable proof of that. When we had pulled him off of Daisuke he had flown into some rant about a new set of road trip rules. Apparently, talking, filming, and annoying Tai were the top three. Of course, the biggest infraction of all was buying a souvenir. The blow up kappa doll from Tono had earned us all a Taichi enforced banishment on novelty trinkets or gifts.

By the time we hit the road in the morning he was still pretty pissed off. I hadn't thought it was wise to give him the car keys, but in his current mood there wouldn't have been much of an argument against the idea. Although he didn't show it too often, I fully knew that if worse came to worse Taichi would be able to hold me down and take the keys by force. So, I gave in and let him and Hikari take the two front seats, while I settled in next to the black-eyed Daisuke.

The younger brunet seemed just as pissed off as his soccer hero. I could see the fire in his eyes when he glanced in Taichi's direction, but he didn't dare open his mouth. I couldn't blame him for being so put out, since this was probably not the trip he had imagined when he stowed away in the van. If it _was_ the trip he had imagined then Daisuke had a really strong masochist side, which I did not want to hear or think about in any way. At least he hadn't been reprimanded for anything he didn't deserve. Sneaking on board, losing valuable supplies, destroying Taichi's phone, causing mass panic… how had he survived this long?

I looked up from my book and watched him stare out the window as the cars passed by. I couldn't see the expression on his face, but his head bobbled slightly as if he was talking to someone or trying to sleep against the window. No, I craned my neck a little further and saw part of his mouth shift; he was definitely saying something quietly. The next car that drove by stared at him and the driver's eyes glazed over with a bit of fear and sadness. After two more cars followed the pattern, I tilted my head further and caught on to what he was doing. The jerk was mouthing 'Help me' to the other drivers on the road with a sad black-eyed expression.

"Quit that." I hissed at him and tried to speak softly enough that Taichi wouldn't notice. The last thing we needed was another freak out on the road.

"Was the ankle kick really necessary?" He grumbled back just as softly and rubbed the joint. "Besides, this isn't hurting anybody and mister fly off the handle kind of earned a few looks when he held my head under the sand."

"He shouldn't have tried to suffocate you," I relented and pointed a finger at the boy, "But doing this is going to cause nothing but more trouble. Can't you just apologize and make up?"

He looked at me like I had grown a horn out of the center of my head. Had it not been a reasonable emotion, I would have decked him myself. Apparently, Daisuke knew just as well as I did that if he dared to approach Tai before the angry driver had let off a little steam it would end in a body bag. Apologies would have to wait until the angry brunet wasn't driving over the speed limit and clutching the steering wheel like his newest victim.

"Just lay low then. And don't try to convince the drivers that you were kidnapped or something."

"Oh please," He rolled his eyes and actually laughed softly, "No one believes this. I did the same thing when my sister was learning to drive and nothing happe-"

The police siren broke his statement and forced the agitated Taichi to pull over to the side of the road. Everyone, besides my row partner and I, looked around the car in shock. No one had noticed our little conversation due to the radio or other distractions, and for a moment I thought we were free from blame. Until Taichi turned around to stare directly at the back seat residents and demanded to know what had happened.

"I'll be damned…" Daisuke mumbled under his breath as the officer approached the vehicle.

Standing outside the car in a line, while the officer questioned each of us was, surprisingly, not the most embarrassing moment of that day. In fact, as I later learned, it wouldn't even crack the top three. That wasn't to say it was pleasant by any means. It was just a little less crappy than some of the other moments.

"I know this is his fault." Taichi seethed uncharacteristically and spared a quick glare at Daisuke.

"Don't do that." I warned him knowing that a pathetic look from the younger brunet had probably garnered this attention.

"Why not?" Taichi whispered at me and watched the officer dived our group in sections. He placed Takeru and Ken in one spot, Hikari and Daisuke farthest away, and left Taichi and I together. The whole thing felt sneakingly more and more like he was trying to pick out culprits and victims.

"Let's just say," I figured telling him the whole story wouldn't help anything, "That you might want to appear less murderous and more happy right now."

"This is ridiculous." Taichi grumbled and rubbed his forehead.

The officer took his time staring at each of us and asking general questions about what we were doing on the road that day. They started out as pretty generic questions, but slowly morphed into a silent attempt to gauge what Taichi and I had done to the younger group members. When the officer asked Daisuke about his black eye, I held my breath and imagined what the inside of my prison cell would look like. What were the odds that the teenager was going to pass up the chance to get back at Taichi? Pretty small, in my opinion.

"This?" Daisuke asked innocently and pointed to the bruising around his eyeball. "I just got into a fight at a soccer match."

The answer was welcomed and surprising. Mentally, I added a new point of respect for Daisuke. At least he was intelligent enough to avoid mentioning Taichi and his rage. Then again, the way he nervously glanced towards Taichi and I to gauge our feelings about his answer didn't help the matter. The officer picked up on it and I could practically see his thoughts turning this situation into something much larger and more sinister. Why would a kidnap victim tell the truth in front of his captors? As long as Taichi and I were there the officer wasn't going to believe a word anyone said.

"This really is a big misunderstanding, officer." Taichi stepped towards the car and reached for the door handle. I could only assume he was trying to find the paperwork most police stops requested about the car and insurance. "We are just on a trip to Hok-"

"Back away from the car, sir." His voice was firm and demanded immediate action.

"This is just a big misunderstanding, officer. We didn't ki-" I kept my hands up and tried to assure the man that we meant no harm to anybody.

"I said, step away from the car." His hand gripped hold of the gun in his holster and silenced my protest, but increased my annoyance with one member of our rag-tag group.

When I was a little kid, I ended up at the police station because I got lost in the park. When fighting and angry adults constantly surrounded you as a kid, the warm police officers had been a welcomed change. They had been more than happy to play games with me, give me candy, and do whatever they could to keep me happy till my mother came to pick me up. Now that I was an adult, and seemingly a kidnapper, the warm feeling had been replaced with disapproving stares and a bare holding cell.

Somewhere between calling Daisuke, Hikari, Ken, _and_ Takeru's families, and my personal space being encroached on by an old man with a hook nose, the officers sorted out the issue at hand. I can't tell you which parent was more upset with the fact their kids were in police custody, but I do know that our cell phones rang off the hook for a good two hours after the officers gave us our things back. Had we not needed the phone for directions and other things, I would have dumped mine into a watery grave like Taichi's without a shred of guilt. At least, Takeru had been smart enough to force Daisuke and Ken to tell their parents about coming along on our trip when we originally discovered them. I didn't want to imagine the craziness that would have come about if Daisuke's mother had said he was supposed to be in Tokyo, and not in the care of two eighteen-year-olds.

It was starting to get dark when we finally left the police station with clearance from any type of wrongdoing. Although I couldn't vouch for the other members of the group, I was mentally and physically exhausted. After answering a thousand questions about everything from my relationship to the other passengers to my business in town, I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep on the sidewalk beneath my feet. Our campsite for the night was still a few hours away and we had to keep moving forward to try to remain on some kind of track.

Taichi had once again stolen the keys under the guise that it was either focus on driving or strangling Daisuke. For people who had been so determined to stop a murder, the officers had shown strange judgment when they explained to Taichi that Daisuke had asked for help from the other drivers. His pathetic face and a quick phone call with our license plate numbers had earned us the joys of a police pull over.

"What about dinner?" Hikari asked timidly from the backseat.

"We have plenty of stuff packed in the snack tub." Taichi drove a little too quickly for my taste on the mountain roads. The last sign I had seen said something about Mountain Hachimantai, but we had gone by too fast for me to read anything else. I spared a quick glance at the dashboard and noticed that Taichi was going even faster than I had first assumed and that he was close to running out of gas.

"We need to fill up before the meter hits empty." I tried to remind him softly.

"Yeah. I'll see if there is a station nearby. I think we passed a sign a few miles back about gas." The words seemed hazy and sounded like he had just been woken up from a daze.

The other car residents remained quiet as we pulled off the main road and took a dark side road. The ground was poorly maintained and caused everyone in the car to shift uncomfortably as Taichi maneuvered the vehicle with mediocre skills. Without the streetlights to give us a decent view of the landscape, we were forced to focus on whatever was directly in front of the car. The place didn't look like it was populated enough to have a farmhouse, let alone a gas station.

"Tai," After an hour of pitch black coasting on fumes, I couldn't stay quiet any longer, "We should turn back while we still can. If we hit the main road we can probably find a gas statio-"

"What is that?"

Hikari interrupted me and stared out the back window. Taichi looked into his rear view mirror, while the rest of us physically turned to see what Hikari was so interested in. Behind us was a set of headlights that followed each move Taichi made. He turned left they turned left; he turned right they turned right. My stomach shifted uncomfortably and they flashed their lights as if to send us a signal. Nothing good happened when a strange car followed you on a deserted road. Japanese, American, and every other country that produced movie premises like this always ended up killing their characters off in the end.

Taichi furrowed his brow as the car gave one last lurch before stopping on the road. Hikari and the other teenagers had been verbally debating whether we should stay in the car or greet the other drivers. All I could think about was Taichi's ghost story about the phantom highway killer. With our luck, someone in this car would have his or her dead wrist tapping the window in the morning.

"They stopped." Hikari whispered as if she thought the other car could hear us talking about them. "Should we open a window or something?"

"No way." Takeru shook his head and made sure his door and the one on Hikari's side were locked. "We have no way to know if they are dangerous or not."

"What else are we going to do?" Daisuke countered. "We can't sit in a locked car forever."

"We would already be safely at the campground if it wasn't for your stunt." Taichi hissed and let out some of his pent-up frustrations.

The last thing I wanted to hear was another Taichi and Daisuke argument. In fact, unknown highway visitors sounded like a better option then watching those two fly into another fight about who was wrong and who was right. As Daisuke growled out some comeback about Taichi learning to take a joke, I unbuckled my seat belt and reached for my door handle. They tried to offer a protest, but I slipped out of the car before anyone could grab my arm and pull me back in the vehicle.

From my position I could only see the shadows of the two figures that approached me. When they came close enough that I could focus my eyes a little better, I was shocked to find that they were not gigantic highway monsters. Then again, as I took in their unique outfits, I wasn't sure if they were actually human. The guy on the left was very tall and lanky with bleach blond hair. Over his torso was a leather vest and his legs were covered in billowy pants that grabbed him at the ankles and waist. The curled shoes and tiny cup-shaped hat on his head made him look like some kind of strange elf person. To the elf man's side was a shorter, slightly pudgy, man with a few wrinkles on his face. His outfit was no less strange and consisted of a green kilt, white dress shirt, thick white socks, and a pair of dark brown dress shoes. When he turned to say something to his companion, I noted there was a pair of black fairy wings on his back.

"What the hell?" Taichi mumbled as he exited the car and stood next to me.

"Hi there!" A small, feminine voice broke the silence. We watched in shock as she pushed her way between the two men and waltzed over to us. "Oh, my. You two are such a cute couple!"

"Oh, we're not… How did you know?" Taichi asked the spunky girl.

"Well, it was a guess mostly." She laughed at our surprised expressions and added, "But only someone who really loved you would chase after you when you go to meet strangers on a dark highway. You know?"

I looked back at the car and realized that Taichi was the only person who had dared to follow me. The others were watching our interactions closely, but they had not even rolled down the windows. My gaze shifted back to Taichi and I found he was staring right back at me. We had been going out for a while, but I could probably count the few times we had said 'love' to each other on one hand. My family had never been too big on the word and its sparse use had given it an almost mystical quality. When it actually was directed at me, particularly from Taichi, my heart felt like it physically skipped a beat. I'd never tell him but sometimes, in the deepest, darkest side of my mind, I wished that he would tell me how he felt more often.

"Are you guys on your way to the Haven?" The dark-haired kilt boy asked as the rest of our group slowly exited the car.

Daisuke stared at the young girl who had greeted Taichi and I by outing us in one guess. I wondered if he knew how obvious his eyes scanned her body. She was a pretty girl, even I could see that. Long red hair tied back in a loose braid, curvy frame, and a sparkly super girl costume that showed off her long legs all combined to make quite the package. If Daisuke stopped staring at her like he had just seen an alien land on Earth he might have a shot.

"What is Haven?" Taichi asked the group as Daisuke put the moves on our new female acquaintance.

"You really haven't heard of it?" Kilt boy looked at his friends with surprise then turned back to Taichi. "It is a safe haven for people like you and your boyfriend. All sorts of people gather there and celebrate being free and all that jazz."

"It's an international organization." The girl smiled at our group and spent longer then necessary on Daisuke's face, "I came here from America to see the biggest one in Japan and visit my brother."

"You're American?" I looked at her and the blond fairy. Maybe it wasn't a bleached hair color?

"We should introduce ourselves," The blonde smiled and shook my hand then Taichi's, "My name is Declan Brennan, but you can call me Dec. This is my partner Makoto and my little sister Claire. I teach high school level English and Makoto teaches Japanese literature at a local university. We planned a trip to camp out at Haven while my sister was in the country for the summer break. That was the main reason we figured you were on your way to Haven. No one comes out this far unless they missed the turn off a few miles back."

"You speak perfect Japanese, Claire." Daisuke stumbled over the girl's name as he gave her a compliment that wasn't entirely truthful. The siblings were good at Japanese, but you could tell the girl struggled with some of her pronunciations. Of course, we all knew that the brunet wasn't concerned with anything but the fact she seemed a little taken with him.

As we took our turn at introductions, the trio listened politely and bowed their heads to each member. I felt a tad bad that this group of mainly foreigners was more polite then we were, but it was too late to care all that much. Makoto and Dec turned out to be blessings in disguise since they happened to carry around an extra bit of gas in the back of their car. Apparently, it was a necessity when you were so far away from any sign of the modern world. Once we had filled the tank up enough to get us back in business, the trio offered us a chance to follow them to Haven once again.

"There aren't any other campsites within miles, and if you did make it to one they wouldn't be accepting any campers at seven-fifty." Claire giggled as Daisuke took her fairy wand prop when she stopped talking and looked over it.

"We should go." Daisuke, _surprise, surprise_, voted for us to accompany the highway trio.

Taichi gathered us in a small group and we tried to figure out our options. Takeru, Taichi, and I were weary of following the group to some universal assembly site. Ken and Hikari had faith in the fact the trio meant no harm, but they had a more peppy outlook of most people. At least, Hikari did. I didn't know why Ken would want to see this place. Could he be curious about people who lived different lifestyles? Claire had described this camp as a beacon for anybody who fell in the LGBTQ lifestyle, as well as anyone who fell in the LS-LGBTQ lifestyle. From what I had gathered, LS was her own creation and stood for 'loving supporter of'. I had to admire her steadfast support of her brother and his partner. Daisuke, on the other hand, admired her for a lot more then that.

"I'll just ride with them." He suddenly announced as Hikari put in the first reason for why we should try trusting the trio. "Less weight in your car will make the gas last longer and all."

Taichi tried to grab the boy's shirt collar, but he slipped away with ease and smiled at Claire. Our fate was sealed, even though Taichi was pretty adamant Daisuke's family would forgive us if we abandoned him, when the idiot climbed in the back seat of the highway trio's car. When I took hold of the keys and forced our newly filled van to follow the trio's vehicle, I could only calm Taichi down with one sentiment. He seemed rather pleased with the idea that if the trio was in fact murderous psychos, Daisuke would be the first victim since he was in their car.

Haven turned out to be a few miles back down the road we had originally traveled. The gate was locked and a single person in a black cat costume was sitting on the inside. He waved happily at the sight of Dec's car and allowed our van to follow in without a single question. About a mile and a half down the dirt road, we spotted various people running around in extravagant to mild costumes. Hikari and Ken turned it into a game by trying to name what each person was supposed to represent. Takeru, like Taichi, sat still in his seat and tried to calmly take in the new sights.

Dec pulled to a stop in a large parking lot and pointed us in the direction of the camping area. Despite the unnerving amount of costumes and decorations, I had to admit it was a pretty neat place. Paper lanterns were strung around the cabins and tents giving the atmosphere a multi-colored haze. Dec and the others helped us set up our tents and pitched their two right next door. Although it was none of my business, I couldn't help but wonder if Daisuke was pondering the fact Claire had her own space. I could only hope the kid didn't get any big ideas that would end up with Declan beating the snot out of him.

"How about some food?" Makoto asked as a chorus of hungry stomachs broke the silent tent preparations.

Just like the organized camping area, the eating hall was kept in immaculate shape. A particularly large cabin housed the food area and, according to Dec, it used to be the mess hall for a summer camp. The entire area used to house a summer camp for the local kids, but when the owner passed away seven years ago his son revamped the entire place and turned it into a haven for distinctive souls.

"That is how it got the name." Claire ate her organically made applesauce and relayed the entire history of Haven and its multi-country sisters. "Everyone who comes here is looking for a place to be themselves. No one cares if guys like guys or if a girl used to be a guy."

Honestly, I couldn't understand how they talked so frankly about things like homosexuality and being transgender. All my life I had been told in subtle and not so subtle ways that this type of thing was wrong. I could still remember my mother whispering about her friend's brother and the fact he lived with another man. When I was little I had assumed that the men she gossiped about had done something horrible like steal or lie, but then I grew up and realized she wasn't shocked because they had done anything devious. She had been upset because they loved each other and wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

What would my parents think of this place? My mother had already given me an earful about placing Takeru in jail, but if she could only see where my baby brother and I had ended up now. It felt far safer being surrounded by gay and transgender people in cosplay then it did in the jail cell with stereotypical men. Would my mother have felt the same way? Could she have seen the irony of the situation or would she have just buried her head in the sand and keep believing that gay people were the enemy to families?

"You know," Claire smiled at me and seemed concerned that I had drifted off into my own world, "You guys haven't seen the best stuff yet. We should take you to the costume barn and the bonfire!"

Costume? I didn't have any recollection of signing up for more than a campsite and a meal. Taichi looked at me and I could read the urge to flee in his eyes. Was it even stranger for him to be in this place then it was for me? Although I wasn't nearly as flamboyant as even the toned down cosplayers, I had been in places _slightly_ similar to Haven. Taichi, as far as I knew, was still relatively new to the world of gay culture. He had enjoyed talking about petitioning for gay rights when we were alone and the thrill of something new, but this place seemed to shock him.

When Hikari and Daisuke, for separate reasons I was sure, jumped on the chance to see the costume barn, Taichi agreed to go along. The barn was the biggest building we had seen yet and was filled to the brim with random racks of clothing. If you could say anything about the Haven group, it was that they were scarily organized. Each rack of clothes was organized in a delicate system that started with type of piece, size, then color. Even the various pieces of props were organized on their shelves and in their boxes. Taichi had been amazed that any place designated to house clothing could be this clean and put together. It wasn't surprising to hear since the boy had a habit of forgetting what color his carpet was due to massive amounts of dirty clothes.

Claire and Hikari raced around the room like two manic fairies and soon pulled Takeru and Daisuke into their madness. Hikari went with a princess theme, complete with tiara and fluffy tutu over the normal outfit she was wearing. All she managed to get Takeru into was a large plastic crown. Daisuke, prodded forward by Claire's bright smile, went all out for the occasion. By the end of his transformation, a pair of clunky goggles sat on his forehead and a jacket covered in flames with a fuzzy collar covered his top half. I don't know what he did with his shirt, but he seemed happy it was missing since Claire spared him a compliment about his six pack.

"Can't believe you didn't put anything on!" Daisuke laughed heartily at us and threw a pair of gaudy sunglasses on Ken's face. The quiet boy blushed ever so slightly. I figured he felt as ridiculous as Daisuke looked, with those shades on.

After our group had been dubbed bonfire ready, Claire and her companions ushered us across the grassy field and to the group starting to gather by a relatively small bonfire. Apparently, we had made it in time for the first bonfire of the camp season. Their custom, according to Makoto, was to start the holiday with a small fire to symbolize the trials of the year and gradually grow the flame as the weeks passed. By the last night of camping season, the bonfire would be huge and give some sort of symbolic strength to everyone heading back to their normal lives.

As the fire lit up the night sky a few of the people started to dance amongst themselves. There was music playing over the camp's speaker system, but I couldn't really hear it over the talking and shouting of the dancers. It was so strange and yet a little fascinating to watch people from all walks of life dance together as if no one was watching or judging them. A middle-aged woman and her three friends took the freedom to a new degree. They pulled off their tops and moved to the music as if nothing had changed in the slightest.

When they passed by our spot on the grass, Taichi stared at them with wide, interested eyes. The whole thing made me uncomfortable and I leaned back to try to get away from the women dancing past us. If it hadn't been before, I was pretty sure it was now official that I was completely gay. I assumed no man with an ounce of straightness would turn away from that sight. I knew that Taichi was still attracted to women, but his whole bisexuality thing was hard for me to understand. How could he have such interest in two completely different genders? I couldn't compete with someone who had a different set of organs then I did. What kept Taichi from wanting to go back to women? What if he woke up one day and realized that being in our relationship was just a faze or something? The thoughts left a sour taste in my mouth and I tried to keep my eyes off of Taichi while he watched the dancers.

Thankfully, or unthankfully as it later turned out, Claire had gotten us access to something called a 'truth circle session'. She and her brother often went to these things when the gathering included people in similar life situations. The one that she had wrangled our group into was all about families and other relationships. It was a simple process that involved sitting in a wide circle, passing around a decorated talking stick, and sharing whatever was in your heart.

I sat down between Takeru and Taichi and noticed my brother looked a little unsteady. While I had delved into my own tumultuous thoughts about my relationship with Taichi, I hadn't been paying much attention to the others. I really regretted that fact when I leaned closer to Takeru and got a strong whiff of liquor. How the hell had he gotten any alcohol? I had seen a few of the people in the Haven camp area drinking, but what had transpired to get Takeru to take a swig? My brow furrowed and I leaned closer to him so I could ask as privately as possible.

"Did you drink something?" I tried to hold out any judgment or emotions until he told me his side of the story. Takeru had always been a pretty level headed kid and I wanted to believe that he hadn't done anything stupid. Besides, he had looked as weirded out as Taichi did during most of the night. I couldn't see him voluntarily taking a drink from any of the Haven crew.

"No." His breath outed the lie and I watched him for a second as it settled over me. After everything we had been through, I couldn't believe he would choose now to start bending the truth.

"I can smell it on you." I sighed and scooted closer to him, "Look, just tell me how much you had okay?"

"I can drink if I want to, Yamato."

I had never pegged Takeru for an agitated drunk. Well, I had never pegged him as any type of drunk for that matter. As I looked across the circle I spotted Daisuke and Claire sharing a bottle of water. Blame it on the tipsy kid sitting next to me, but I was pretty sure that wasn't just water in the bottle. The real question was how much had Takeru drank. Since he probably hadn't tried anything before, at least I assumed he hadn't, it was probably fair to assume only a little would put him in this state. Just enough to get him in trouble due to a loosened conscience, but not enough to make him very sick. I knew that amount well from my years of rebellion and made a mental note to have a talk with a sober Takeru.

"Not on my watch." I wasn't going to have him fall into a drinking habit while on this trip. If he decided to venture into the world of alcohol when he was back under our mother's roof that was different. I still didn't approve of the idea due to our family history, but my mother would probably jump him before he got very far with that idea. "I'll get you some water. It will help curb th-"

"I don't want your help. You guys did enough already."

"You guys?" I ventured as his agitation grew a little stronger.

"Them." He motioned to the people in costume and then to me, "You… It's all the same."

"Takeru, we're not the same people. I'm not dressed up in some outfit or running around tackling random guys." This wasn't the time or place for a discussion, but it happened either way. "They are happy doing this and I am happy being the guy I've always been. It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does." An emotion I hadn't seen in a long time flashed across my brother's eyes. Takeru was in pain and, for once, I couldn't understand what was torturing him.

"What is going on Takeru?" I waved the talking stick away as it came to me and Takeru snatched it up.

"The truth? You want to know the truth?" As his mood and self-censoring mingled poorly with the liquor, I nodded and waited for him to explain what was so painful. "I wish you weren't gay!"

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**I wondered how you guys would take this chapter. Takeru is a character I really enjoy writing, but I wanted him to have a little more depth in this story. I don't give him enough credit in most of my stories, so this will be a different type of Takeru. Hope it doesn't seem too far-fetched for everyone! : ) Thanks for reading and the next chapter will be coming soon.**


	10. Ask Me Why

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**Okay boys and girls, this is the newest chapter of 'A Fork In The Road'… which you probably already knew since you clicked on it. : ) Anyway, enjoy the chapter! **

**By the way, I hope this doesn't sound repetitive, thank you to my readers and reviewers. You guys are amazingly kind to take time to look at my story. **

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The entire circle fell silent as Takeru's statement settled over the crowd. A sharp pain hit my chest, but I was not going to show these strangers how much this hurt me. Instead of looking into their faces I kept my eyes trained on my little brother. He shifted nervously in his seat, looked at the multi-colored stick sitting by his foot, and then hurried out the door with me hot on his heels. I had a vague recollection of Taichi offering to come with me, but I halted any interested parties with a quick wave of my hand. This conversation needed to be between only Takeru and I.

For a drunken kid, the boy sure moved quickly. He easily kept a three-foot lead due to his early start and led us to the more secluded area of the campgrounds. By the time I was able to catch up to him, he had collapsed onto a rock jutting up from the grass. The area around us was inclined slightly and I was able to lean against a thick tree trunk. Takeru rubbed his face with both hands and let out a long sigh to try, I figured, and gain some form of stability. He didn't look at me for the first few minutes, but eventually succumb to the fact I wasn't going anywhere without a little talk.

"I'm sorry." The phrase came out in a whisper. "I shouldn't have said that…"

"Is that what you really think? You wish I wasn't gay?" As I watched the boy I had spent my entire life protecting and caring for squirm uncomfortably, I felt a little guilty. Even though I knew that I wasn't completely in the wrong in this situation, I couldn't get past the fact that something _I _had done had hurt Takeru. During our childhood, I had promised him over and over that I would never hurt him like our parents had. Yet, here we were in the middle of a strange camp and he was sitting in the same position as when mom and dad had announced their divorce.

"No…Yes… I don't know. Sometimes, okay?"

"If you actually feel it," I squatted so I could have a better view of my brother's face and fell into the habit of trying to comfort him, "Then don't apologize. You can't control or pick what you feel. Trust me, I know."

"I just… Sometimes I wish we could go back to the old days. Mom and dad were happy, you and I lived in the same home, and we were a real family."

I wasn't sure what family Takeru was reminiscing about, but it surely wasn't ours. Sure we had at some point lived in the same house, but that didn't mean we were the same family of his dreams. Maybe Takeru really was too young to remember those times clearly? Back in the day, it had seemed like such a good idea to paint him a different picture of our family. When dad had forgotten to come home for Takeru's birthday dinner, I told him it was because he was out buying a super present. Thankfully, 'a super present' for a kid as young as Takeru had been at the time, was something I had been able to afford with all of my piggy bank savings. When mom had her fling with the man in the apartment downstairs, I told Takeru that he was actually our mom's best friend who visited a lot. He had bought the lies, _fully,_ based on this conversation, and I had kept him happy during our parents' entire attempt at a marriage. When the divorce broke my delicately balanced system of lies and tore us apart, he no longer had that safety net to rely on. Had I hurt him worse by leaving him unprepared to handle our family on his own? The way he sat beside me in such pain over the fact we would never be the same, seemed like pretty strong proof that our parents and I had royally screwed up Takeru's head.

"And that isn't going to happen because I'm gay?" He still wouldn't look me in the eyes. My mind continuously debated whether or not my brother knew, somewhere inside him, that even if I was straight as a board, our parents were not getting back together. Some things could never be put back together again.

"Mom always asks me why you aren't dating anyone." He admitted and toyed with a piece of grass between his fingers. "She always makes jokes or worries about the fact people will think something is wrong with you. Like you were gay or still depressed over Jun."

The name Jun took me by surprise for a minute. Mom still remembered my three-week attempt at having a female partner? I felt a little bad about the whole Jun situation, if I was honest with myself. She had just been there at the wrong time and place, when I was trying my hardest to fight what I knew was true in my heart. None of the other things I had tried to curb my desire for guys had worked, so I had decided to try to force myself to fall in love with a girl. Jun hadn't taken the news too badly when I finally came clean. That was one of the things I admired about that wild lady. Instead of, as I had feared, her taking my gay announcement as a sign that she had turned me off women forever, she insisted it was proof that she was all the woman I could ever handle and now I wouldn't be able to even look at another girl. It wasn't completly true, but worth a laugh and a nice friendship.

Mom had only met Jun once when we came by to pick up Takeru for a day at the park, but apparently she had made an impression. I never realized that when my mom had smiled at Jun and gushed about my baby pictures, that she was actually happy. I had presumed it was just my mother trying to be nice and welcoming to a stranger in her home. She had always taught me that I had to take good care of company. I never would have guessed that Jun was my mom's last hope that her son could be 'normal'.

"Why did you two break up? I thought you were so happy together. I've seen you laugh and hang out at Daisuke's house." Takeru finally looked at me, but his usual cheer was vacant from his blue eyes. In place of the emotion I adored was a brutal honesty that begged for some type of truth, "Why did you choose to be gay?"

Instead of answering his question, I looked directly into his eyes and asked my own, "Why did you choose to be straight?"

"What?" He blinked obviously caught off guard.

"When did you decide to be straight?"

Takeru paused for a moment and I could see the wheels in his head turning. Had he not been battling a dose of beer, or whatever was passed around the campsite, I was sure the answer would have come sooner. Either way, I was happy that he was actually giving my question some thought. No matter how much he drank, my favorite family member was still in there wanting to find a solution that worked for us both.

"I don't know." The answer was honest and seemed to help open his eyes to my point. "Always, I guess? I've never really looked at anyone but girls and I always expected I would marry one someday."

"Well, not everyone grew up looking at the girls." I tried to laugh and ease the situation, but my nerves couldn't handle the sound. Even if Takeru gained some sort of understanding about my orientation, it didn't change the fact I would be the biggest obstacle in his desire to have a real family again. A squabbling mom and dad were nothing compared to the family's big gay secret.

"I don't really understand all this stuff, but I do care about you Yamato."

"I know, Tak." I nodded my head and sat down on the patch of grass beside his rock. Deep in my chest I could feel a range of emotions brewing, but I couldn't voice any of them. Every time I looked at my brother's face I lost the ability to do anything but try to find some way to smooth out the whole situation. Wasn't that my assigned position as the older sibling? Sacrifice to make sure the person I cared about thrived? Surely, there was a limit on how much I was expected to give to keep everyone happy. "You just want our family back together again. It's okay, I understand."

"You're not going to dress up in costumes when you're as old as Makoto and Dec are you?"

As he shifted away from the unresolved conversation, I went with the flow and tried to joke with him. Anything was easier than addressing the real issue, "You don't think I'd look good in a vest?"

"Not par-" His words stopped suddenly and a hand flew up to his mouth. I had been curious how he would handle his first drink and, apparently, he was not immune to nausea. Within a few seconds, Takeru jumped up and walked a foot away to empty his stomach of its un-agreeable contents.

The next morning started off on an awkward note. I had risen earlier then the rest of our group because I had never really fallen asleep. Takeru had slept in our tent for the night so I could watch over him, but it had been hard to even look at his face while he slept. Most of the night I spent with my head buried in my pillow and Taichi's arms wrapped around my torso. Was it wrong to let him try to comfort me with a tight hug after everything I discussed with Takeru? Possibly. But in that moment, I had been so desperate for some form of comfort that I just enjoyed Taichi's warm arms and tried to focus on my breathing.

In the morning light, Haven took on a much more tame appearance. Instead of costumed individuals running around I spotted average people going about their morning activities. In the distance was a sunrise yoga group trying to perfect the warrior pose. As uncomfortable as the night had been in Haven, I couldn't honestly say that it completely freaked me out. Was it possible that I had become so accustomed to the non-stereotypical life that these types of things no longer held shock value? Taichi had already admitted to me in private that he was glad to be getting out of this loony bin. But the more I watched the couples go about their morning activities, the less crazy they seemed. Maybe Taichi and I were the crazy ones? There were astronomically few places in this country where we could let go of our charade and enjoy each other's company. During the whole night in public, we hadn't so much as held hands. It was possible that Haven wasn't so weird after all. Except for the man doing yoga in hot pants, those floral pants were rather bizarre.

"Are you into yoga?"

I turned to see Claire standing to my right. She looked so different without the over-bearing fairy costume. Her hair was loose and flew freely in the small breeze until she captured the rebellious strands and pulled them into a messy bun. The t-shirt she had on advertised some American burger joint and her jeans had plenty of holes. For the first time since we had been introduced, Claire looked like a normal person.

"Look, I'm sorry." She started speaking before I could answer the first question and laid a hand on my arm. "I thought Takeru was twenty, like Daisuk-"

"You thought Daisuke was twenty?" I had a feeling a certain brunet was involved in the creation of that whopper.

"Well, when I told him that I was nineteen, he started telling me how he was actually twenty and just looked young for his age. I get told all the time I look sixteen or seventeen, so I just assumed you guys all looked young." She let go of my arm and motioned towards the tent, "It wasn't until your boyfriend started asking who gave a sixteen-year-old a drink that I realized Takeru was younger than Daisuke."

"Taichi asked about it?" I hadn't heard anything about the truth circle after Takeru and I left, so it was somewhat interesting to get that tidbit of info.

"Oh, yeah. He was pretty angry to say the least…" She wrapped her arms around herself as another blast of air blew past us. I laid my jacket on her shoulders out of habit and she gave me a wide smile, "Thank you. I guess we didn't give you a really good first impression here."

"I don't really understand the costume part." After hiding so many thoughts last night, I was in no shape to lie to someone I barely knew.

"We always have party nights like that on special occasions. When the sun comes up, most of the campers put their regular clothes back on. I thought you realized it was part of the fun of the start of camp season."

So the costumes and dancing were not an everyday event? That surprised me. If anyone were wild enough to do something like that it would probably be the Haven crew or an anime convention. But if it was a limited time deal, why did they need so many articles of clothing in the barn? Couldn't people just bring their own stuff?

"And the barn?"

Claire pointed to a pair of dots in the distance. I squinted my eyes and realized it was Makoto and Dec heading back from the mess hall. They waved when they spotted us, and Claire and I reciprocated. Dec was dressed as normally as Claire and I, but Makoto was sporting a knee-length black skirt below his t-shirt.

"Makoto is a cross dresser." Claire explained as if I hadn't made the connection on my own. "Where he and my brother live it is nearly impossible to shop without someone talking about you behind your back. So, he either has to order stuff online or borrow things. A lot of the people who come here aren't even that lucky. Didn't you notice that most of the clothing in there is normal stuff?"

No. I honestly hadn't been able to look past the glittery props and cosplay outfits. If I hadn't seen the morning crowd dressed so casually, compared to the night before, I probably would have called Claire a liar. As I looked around once more I noticed that almost everyone was dressed in a tasteful fashion. The six men I spotted in dresses or skirts had picked out very tame patterns, that actually seemed less invasive than some of the girl outfits I had seen in Odaiba.

"It must be nice for him to come to a place where he can dress however he wants." I pulled a water bottle from the back of the car and started to look for some painkillers. Takeru and the others would be up soon enough and I wanted to be ready for them.

"It is." Claire smiled at me once more, then laid her hand on my shoulder, "I hope you guys give Haven another chance someday. I can almost guarantee there won't be a costume parade next time."

As she handed me back the jacket and raced off to catch up with her brother and Makoto, an actual laugh escaped my mouth. It felt good to let out some type of emotion and I was eternally thankful it wasn't a messier one. The last thing that I could handle was my self-control breaking and allowing my stress to escape through my tear ducts. Crying was something I detested all around. The puffy eyes, runny nose, and general unpleasantness that came with it was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. As long as I kept moving forward and didn't dwell on last night, everything would be fine.

"Hey," Taichi's warm breath greeted me before his lips gave my cheek a soft peck. It had been a good hour since my conversation with Claire and I had busied myself with re-organizing the car. It didn't really need it, but I wasn't in a position to leave my mind free to wander.

"Hey yourself," As I stepped away from the car I got a full view of his face. The emotion covering the tanned skin did not settle well with me. "Why don't we go get some breakfast? You're probably hungry."

"Can you stomach anything?"

"Sure." I lied through my teeth and tried to usher him towards the dining hall. With waffles stuffed in his mouth, Taichi would have no chance to ask the question of the day.

"Don't you want to talk about it?" He pressed the question and I shook my head.

"If we don't hurry they might run out of food. Don't want to get stuck eating some kind of granola."

His brow furrowed and he watched me closely, "Stop dodging the question, Yamato. I know it's bothering you. Just talk to me about the whole Takeru thing."

Damn his determination. Was it too much to ask that everyone back away and let me deal with my own family issues? It wasn't like Taichi had a sibling who his relationship hurt. In fact, it wasn't like Taichi could understand what it was like to be a member of the good ship destruction. His family was happy and cheery and as close to perfect as those damn pictures in parenting magazines.

"I've dealt with it. Let's just get something to eat and talk about something else."

He couldn't take a hint, "If you're so happy with how everything happened, why did you shake all night and race out before the sunrise?"

Wait a minute, Taichi had noticed those things? All this time I had assumed he had been so far out of it that I had gotten away with the moment of weakness. Maybe I should have given him a little more to go on then 'I'm tired, we'll talk later' last night. Honestly, I had hoped he had been tired enough to not remember the last part of that avoidance line.

"Talk to me, Yamato." Crap, he remembered. "I want to be there for you, but you have to be honest with me about what is going on."

"Oh, you mean like the way you were honest about Hikari being hospitalized due to her head pain?"

Low blow? Check. Pissed off Taichi? Check. Emotion filled outburst that had ridden around my thoughts and should not have come out at that moment? Double check. We stared at each other in silence for a good minute and I honestly didn't know what Taichi would say in return. If there was a big book of relationship rules out there, I had probably broken at least half of them with that one statement. But at that moment in time, I had almost been thankful to have someone I could fight with. In some sick, twisted way, I almost wished Taichi would hit me and give me the chance to let out everything that had weighed me down for so long.

"What?" The question was slow and loaded with possible landmines.

"I talked to Hikari and found out about her passing out at your soccer game. And the fact you were so worried about her being sick while she was in the hospital. I just… I just wanted to know why you and Sora seemed to have some big secret."

"And you never thought to ask me instead of making my sister relive that?"

"Oh yeah, asking the man barking at me to produce a doctor out of thin air seemed like a good idea." Was it a record to kill an entire day's mood before ten am? "After all I have told you about my life, I figured you would have at least mentioned Hikari's illness. You obviously had no problem telling Sora about it!"

As the words exited my mouth my brain sat back in mortified shock. Common sense had long ago flown the coop and I was running on pure stress and emotion. Taichi stared at me with eyes that shifted between anger and some mystery emotion. I couldn't figure out if the ambiguity was good or bad. On the one side, it could mean he was re-thinking how much he shared with me compared to Sora. But it could also mean, that he was thinking why should he stay with someone who yelled at him for asking honest questions.

"First off, Sora was at the match that day so she knew all this because she saw it. And second, forgive me for not wanting to admit my failures as a brother to the world's perfect sibling!"

"What?" The energy that had fed my angry side waned a little as Taichi's explanation settled over me.

"I know that you have taken care of Takeru through hell and high water. After everything you told me about keeping him safe, did you really think I was going to tell you that I nearly killed my little sister? It was because of me that she lied to our parents about her headaches, okay? I begged her to lie because I wanted them to come see me play soccer. So there you go, Yamato. The big secret; I'm a horrible sibling."

"Taichi…"

What could you say to something like that? I wished I could think of something clever or comforting to tell him, but my brain froze. All I kept replaying was the fact that Taichi thought I was some kind of talented sibling. How could he think anything like that after all we had talked about? I didn't deserve to be placed on that pedestal. Taichi, even with his secret revealed, had been a far better brother then me. The whole soccer thing had happened when he and Hikari were just kids. I had screwed up with Takeru as an adult, and the world would be much more willing to forgive Taichi's childish mistake then mine.

"Forget it." His mood was darkened and he walked away before my brain could come up with anything to force out of my mouth.

"Yamato, I…"

Takeru must have woken up sometime during our fight. At least, that was what I assumed when I turned to look at him and noticed a guilty expression coating his pale face. I handed him the water bottle and the pills, but didn't say anything. At that moment I wouldn't have been able to form any verbal phrase that wasn't accompanied by cries of frustration. I formulated enough self-control to order him to take the pills and drink the water. But that was all I was good for at that moment. I turned on my heel and sought out a place to be alone long enough to let my emotions escape my chest before I exploded.

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**I had expected them to actually hit the road in this chapter, but an emotional release was sort of needed before they were crammed back into the car. They will be on the move in the next chapter and off for more misadventures.**

**I don't know if this was a good one or not. I hope you guys don't think it was a horrible piece. **


	11. Love Lies

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**Hello everyone in fanfiction world! It is lovely to see you again and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I think it might follow a pattern few were expecting. It will be interesting to see what the reaction is to this one. **

**As always, thank you to my reviewers! : )**

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When we pulled out of Haven the mood in the car was tense, to say the least. Taichi hadn't spoken to me since his big secret reveal and I hadn't been able to manage even a casual conversation with him. Thankfully, I was in the driver's seat so there was no need to relay the directions Dec had given me to the nearest convenience store to Taichi. Wouldn't that have been fun? Me stumbling over the desire to pour my heart out, punch him in the gut, or tell him to turn left at the next fork in the road. Boy, what a trip this had shaped out to be.

The longer I drove, the more I thought about Dec and Makoto. Dec had said they'd been together for over five years. The way they looked at each other seemed so happy and peaceful all the time. There must be some ancient secret to being that kind of couple. A secret that no one in my family, besides possibly Takeru, had cracked.

The blond hadn't said much since we left Haven, and when I looked in my rear view mirror I noticed he was still sitting in a silent stupor. Ken leaned over and tried to offer him another bottle of water, but Takeru whispered something and didn't take the drink. In my brother's defense, he had tried to approach me before we boarded the car. I don't know if he wanted to apologize because he thought he helped start the fight with Tai or if he wanted to talk about his announcement last night. Someday, I knew that I had to talk to him about all of this stuff, but the moment before driving everyone to the next location was not that time. I just wished I hadn't seen the notorious hurt look on his face when I turned him down.

"Are we really just going to sit in silence the whole time?" Daisuke asked after waking up from his third nap of the day. I don't know what he did last night, but the kid seemed exhausted.

"If it is too quiet for you," Hikari leaned between the two front seats and looked at Daisuke, "Why don't you find a music station on the radio?"

"Works for me." He turned the device on and proceeded to switch through the stations. I swore he was messing with me after the seventh station. Each time he found a working frequency, he waited until he heard half of the chorus then switched it. Was it too much to ask for a stable song channel?

"That's it." I pulled over on the side of the road and glared at Daisuke. In my current state, ten station changes was the max acceptable, "You, backseat. Anyone else, front seat."

Hikari took the helm and chose an eclectic radio station. I was thankful to have someone as agreeable as her next to me and let my hands loosen on the steering wheel. The rubber texture coating the wheel had been rubbed smooth by my warm hands, and I made a mental note to cover it with a novelty case before returning the van. My dad might not have called me about the jail event, but he would notice any nick, scratch, or imperfection in the car.

"Did you notice people staring at us?" Ken ventured softly as we pulled into a fast food restaurant for lunch.

All of the eyes in the car glared at Daisuke, but the boy shook his head and firmly denied talking to any of the other drivers. "You guys honestly think I would send us to the police a second time?"

"Yes." Taichi answered bluntly and exited the car.

After placing our orders, the group selected a family sized table in the empty side of the dining area. Taichi sat on the opposite side of me with Takeru on his right. Takeru and I had no real appetite for food, due to his hangover and my nervous nausea, so we had agreed to split a medium order of fries. When the waitress dropped off the food, she set our fries in the middle of the table and Takeru volunteered to split them up. As he handed me my share on a napkin, Hikari smiled brightly at the two of us.

"I'm glad to see you two are talking again." She was the only one at the table brave enough or non-angry enough to take such a risk.

She counted saying thank you for half an order of fries as talking? I guess the silence had eaten at Hikari more than I realized. She had probably heard my fight with Taichi. Most of the Haven visitors had probably heard us argue in the middle of the camping area. I liked Hikari; in fact, she was one of the few people still on my good side. Of course, that also didn't mean I wanted to join her in some pseudo therapy session over hamburgers. Hopefully, she would let the issue drop with that comment.

"Maybe you could tell us about which monologue you picked out for the audition? I know Takeru had said he was curious which one you would pick. The rest of us would be happy to help you memorize it." Hikari wasn't through just yet.

"We have to what?" Daisuke complained before furrowing his brow. "Alright, who kicked me? Can we stop kicking my ankles for one day?"

"Shut-up, Daisuke." Taichi grumbled the words and took a bite of his hamburger. Even though we were in the middle of a fight, I appreciated the fact Taichi stopped the person who had given me a headache most of the trip.

"No." He placed his hands on the table and stared at each of us, "This whole trip you two have beaten me up, but at least the car rides weren't horrible. Just shake hands and make up so the rest of this trip doesn't have to be detention in a car."

For once during this entire trip, I couldn't deny Daisuke had a legitimate point. Once the complete and utter strangeness of that realization wore off, I stared across the table at Taichi and Takeru. Wasn't the whole point of this trip to give us some time together before we were possibly sent to separate sides of the country? If I got into the school and took the spot they offered, that meant I would be leaving Odaiba almost as soon as I got back. Did I really want to spend the last chance I had to hang out with Taichi fighting? If my worst fears about our relationship ending came true, what would I have to look back on? A two-week trip filled with yelling and silent treatments? Maybe love wasn't permanent after all, but I wanted to have my last few moments with Taichi be romantic and fun. I had spent most of my life pushing my emotions into a box and I could do it again. It was probably a horrible abuse of my mental health, but no one in my family really took that good of care of their mentality anyway. What was one more unsuccessful romance with a fleeting period of glory to add to my family's pile?

"Well?" Hikari looked at the members of our table in turn and seemed to be working in cahoots with Daisuke. "Can we all agree to a truce?"

"Or at least a fresh start from here on out?" Ken perked up and watched his fellow peacekeeper and Daisuke with a shy smile.

"Okay." Takeru nodded his head and looked up into our faces with a tired smile. "I'm willing to try."

As Hikari hugged him tightly, I turned my attention to Taichi's face. He had a thoughtful expression, which turned into a genuine smile when he spotted me staring at him. I knew that we would have to have our own private discussion about things later, but for that one moment in time I smiled back at him. Inside my chest I could feel my heart beat a little faster as his amber eyes gave off that youthful sparkle.

"Alright." Daisuke cheered happily and wrapped a friendly arm around Ken's shoulders; "Things are going to be better after this guys. I can sense it."

Everything was better for the rest of our meal. Takeru and Hikari chatted softly about some old movie and the other boys discussed various soccer players from other countries. I even managed to eat the part of Taichi's second burger he gave me, because my stomach cartwheels had somewhat settled after I locked away some of the deeper emotions. For once, everyone seemed to be getting along and having a good time. Just the sight of my travel companions smiling gave me a slight cathartic boost.

By the time we left the restaurant, Daisuke had managed to smear a rather large amount of ketchup on his shirt. He had been more than willing to let us know that there was no way he could go the rest of the day with a huge stain on his top. I hadn't listened to much of his complaints and Takeru's playful teasing, but I relented to his request for a new shirt. The clothes were all packed away in the back part of the van since they were generally only needed after we set up camp. It was a hassle to dig them out, but Daisuke had bridged a pretty big gap today and earned at least one favor.

"Oh my," Ken stopped in front of the back hatch and stared at the bumper with surprise. "I think I know why people were looking at us now."

"Did it get scratched or hit?" Taichi asked and followed me to the back of the van.

Where there had once been a clean metal bumper was two new oddities. I had a feeling that the first one, a rainbow sticker with the words 'Gay and Proud', had been donated to us by some anonymous Haven member. The van had been left unguarded plenty of times so anyone could have added that little feature. At least the Haven sticker was peaceful compared to the second addition.

I'm not sure when it happened, but someone had scratched through the sticker, and the bumper, the word 'Fags'. Personally, the whole thing, sticker included, enraged me. If I wanted to display my preferences I would, but I was not a fan of some stranger outing me to the entire roadway. The derogatory term was hurtful on its own level and that pain mingled horribly with the realization my dad's treasured van was now very obviously nicked. Wouldn't it be fun to tell my dad that his son had been tagged at a burger place, after spending the night in a gay fantasy camp?

"I can't believe they would do something like that…"

Ken stared at the words and seemed to take it harder than the rest of us. I watched him finger the scratched in statement and take a slow breath. This was probably his first real brush with homophobia. If my assumptions about him were correct, I feared this probably wouldn't be his last either.

"We have to do something." Takeru, the last person I had expected to take charge, spoke up. He stood next to Ken and looked once more at the words decorating the car. Despite the fact he had admitted the whole brother liking guys thing confused him, I was proud to see the determination and righteousness in his eyes. Even if he didn't care for or understand homosexuality, my baby brother seemed to really care about respect and equal treatment.

"I'll see if I can at least get the sticker off," I mumbled to them before opening the back doors.

I knew that my dad had packed away a car maintenance box somewhere in the vehicle. He knew that no one on this trip was prepared to take care of any big repairs, but had sworn that every driver needed a certain amount of car products when they went on a trip. When I had peaked in the box during the packing phase, I discovered it was mainly filled with bottles of various liquids that all had racing designs on them. I had chosen to take it as a compliment that he actually believed I would know what the heck to do with those things. The one thing I did have a use for, and knew how to use, was the razor blade in the box. Apparently, car repair required you to slice some things?

"I can't find the car box…" I moved a few more pieces aside and felt a little bit of panic grow in my stomach. Aside from the car box, I also hadn't seen my monologue book in the back. The last time I remembered seeing either was when I rearranged the car that morning.

"There it is." Taichi spotted the car box, but noticed I was still looking around in a growing frenzy. "What else is missing?"

"My monologue book." I tossed a few things aside and soon found the disappointing carpeted base of the storage area. "The last time I had it was when I rearranged the car this morning."

"Why would you rearrange the car?" Daisuke asked as he snuck past me to grab his clothes bag.

I wasn't going to tell him about my nervous housework habit, so instead I tried to go over my last few movements, "I remember having it in my hand when I went to fix the mirrors. I set it on the roof so I could get into the driver's side and… Crap. I never took the book off the top of the car!"

"Wasn't that book Mimi's?" Hikari asked softly as I sat on the edge of the bumper and groaned over my own stupidity.

"Can't you buy her a new one?" Tai asked as he sat down beside me. "It wasn't an old book, right? So it should be cheap to get a new one."

"I can get her a new book, but how am I going to get a monologue now? Without two scenes I can't audition."

Ken placed a finger on his chin and then walked up to the front of the car. He shuffled around in our maps until he located one in particular. The paper had every scheduled stop marked with a star sticker and a thick red line illustrating the roadways to take to each sticker. The map was fanned out in front of Tai and I, and he pointed to the next sticker situated beside the city called Misawa.

"Misawa is a huge town, we can find a book store and pick out a new monologue for you." The ingenious Ken was steadily becoming my favorite road trip companion.

When we pulled into Misawa that afternoon the streets were overcrowded to say the least. Although Taichi had managed to scrape off the remnants of the rainbow sticker, while grumbling angry curse words and possible things he wanted to do to the person who keyed the car under his breath, we were still driving around with a bumper that said 'Fags' in big capital letters. Hopefully the bookstore would have something that we could cover it with. The bumper had survived one sticker, so why not add another?

Traversing the roads to the bookstore Hikari found on her smart phone took longer then I had expected, since every cross walk had been filled with people decked out in colorful kimonos or yukatas. By the time we pulled into a parking space near a local shopping district the running bet was that either a festival was happening or an old-time movie was being filmed. Judging from the sign on the bookstore window, I was willing to bet that the festival option was correct.

Inside the bookstore the woman behind the desk offered us a large smile and a deep bow. She was decked out in a festive yukata embellished with a cherry blossom pattern. Her long, straight hair fell past her breasts and made her face look like it was surrounded by a box outline. Daisuke, seemingly having forgotten about his last crush, sauntered in front of the group and introduced himself as gallantly as possible. The woman giggled daintily and seemed rather flattered with the special attention.

"I am sorry to inform you that we are closed for the day." She gave us a respectful bow, "The owner wanted to give her workers time to enjoy the Wish festival, so the usual store hours have been changed."

"Look," I wasn't in any position to barter with the teenage attendant, so I merely laid out the situation for her. "I just need to buy a book for a very big school audition. Could we make one quick purchase, please?"

Her dark eyes softened slightly, but the frown on her face gave me all the answer I could require, "I'm very sorry, but the cash register has already been locked for the night. Without the owner here, I can't sell you anything."

So this was how it was going to end? Making it all this way to fail because I didn't have a monologue to show? The school had been adamant in their letter that we needed to select our pieces from a reputable source. Mimi had, thankfully, owned one of the books deemed acceptable by the university. Now, I had to find her a replacement and a new book for myself.

"Is there anywhere we can go to find a book in this town?" Taichi tried to help the situation by asking the woman for advice.

"I'm afraid we are the only bookstore who wasn't closed for the entire day. What is it you are looking for anyway?" I listed off the three acceptable titles and her frown slowly shifted into a smile, "We don't carry those here, but I think I know where you can get them."

"Really?"

She smiled happily and motioned for us to step outside the store walls. Once we were all situated on the sidewalk she locked the store door. From her clutch she produced a cell phone with a Hello Kitty cover and dialed a random set of numbers. Taichi looked at me and seemed confused how this phone call was supposed to help us get the books we needed. Honestly, I had no idea what the strange lady had up her sleeve, but she mentioned the book titles while on the phone call and that gave me a bit of comfort.

"Okay." She hung up the phone and turned her attention back towards our group, "My grandmother owns one of the three you listed. She said that you could make a copy of the pages you need at our house."

"You have a copier?" Daisuke asked in surprise. Though the bigger question, in my mind, was why would a random woman invite a group of strange teenagers to her house.

"We can just scan them and print out the pages. The only problem is that my house is on the other side of the city and I have to be back for the pageant in a couple of hours."

"What if we drove you to your house and then brought you back here? That is probably the quickest way." Taichi smiled brightly at the young woman, and seemed to have missed the big question just as Daisuke had. I guess a pair of big, bright eyes lowered their reasoning skills a tad.

"Alright." She grinned happily at them before offering yet another bow, "Oh, by the way, my name is Itou Kiyomi."

As the others greeted her, I couldn't decide if I should ruin this strike of good luck. The fact Kiyomi had no trouble trusting strangers to drive her to her home bothered me. Shouldn't that have been a red flag for everyone? What if this innocent looking lady was actually a serial killer in disguise? Sure, we could probably defend ourselves against a woman only a few inches taller than Hikari, but why put ourselves in that situation?

"Are you alright?" Kiyomi and I waited outside the car as Daisuke and Tai tried to clean it up a little and make more room.

"Yes. Thank you for all this help with the book." I fidgeted a little and couldn't decide if I should bring it up bluntly or beat around the bush. "Why… You know what, never mind."

"You want to know why I am letting strangers in my home?" She giggled softly and stared at me with those shimmery black eyes.

"Actually, I don't understand how you can trust strangers to drive or go into your home so easily."

"Are you an ax murderer?" I blinked in surprise but told her no. "Well, I'm not either. So we should be good."

"Wha…"

She laughed softly at my stumped expression and placed a hand on my arm, "It isn't always easy, but I believe in trusting people. If you give someone your trust you might just learn something about yourself as well."

Kiyomi offered me one more smile before crawling into the backseat of the car with Daisuke and Ken. Trust was something I didn't really comprehend in most situations. Blind trust was something I believed existed only in fairy tales. If my parents had taught me anything in life, it was that trust had to be earned. You couldn't trust anyone at the start and it was a process that required constant re-evaluations. How could someone go through life blindly believing that you could count on others? Besides, I couldn't imagine learning much about myself by trusting others. Unless, the lesson was some sort of painful 'see what happens when you do something stupid' experiment.

"If it makes you feel any better," She added as I stepped into the car, "I already texted my grandmother your license plate numbers. She isn't much of a trust-er either."

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**I promise that this story will not be filled with a thousand OCs. Sometimes though, strangers help us see ourselves in different lights. Consider that my fortune cookie-esque statement of the day lol. **


	12. Come On-a My House

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.**

**It is probably way too soon to update this story, but I decided to post this anyway. I figure if I ride out the rare moment of productivity, this story might actually be finished in the same year it was started. That is a rare, very rare, feat for me. Anyway, thanks to everyone who stops by and reads and/or reviews. **

**Now off to the adventure...**

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Kiyomi hadn't been kidding when she said her home was on the outskirts of town. It took a good thirty minutes to get across the crowded city and into her neighborhood. As we pulled into the area an impressed hush fell over the car. The houses surrounding her neighborhood were larger than any residences I had seen before. To be honest, Sora's house could have given these a run for their money. Sora's house would have probably fit in perfectly with the outlandish traditional homes stretched across the street.

"It's the next one on the right." Kiyomi struggled to break free of her tight spot between Ken and Daisuke. Once her arm and shoulder were freed, she pointed at one of the houses surrounded by meticulously groomed plants.

The inside of her home was just as impressive as the outside, if not more so. We exchanged our shoes for guest slippers and followed Kiyomi on an impromptu tour of the home. The way she smiled so widely gave me the feeling that she was really enjoying the chance to play hostess. A beautiful girl like her would have been extremely popular at my old school, so I couldn't imagine that she was hurting for company.

The last stop on the tour was a regal looking library surrounded by bookcases that lined each wall. In the center of the room was a medium-sized fountain with a bamboo design. Daisuke stuck his hand in the stream and brought out a small, childish giggle from Kiyomi. I couldn't tell if she was humoring him or actually entertained by his antics, so I settled on giving him a serious stare down. We were guests in this house, this very expensive house, and the last thing our funds could handle was breaking some priceless antique.

"Here is your book." She plucked a thick novel off the shelf closest to the door and directed me to the couch, "Just let me know when you found the two pages you need and I'll scan them."

As I settled on the couch Taichi followed and perched on the cushion farthest away from me. After Daisuke's strangely inspiring speech in the restaurant, I had tried to think of some way to get Taichi alone. I wanted to talk to him and get back on a good note, even if it meant hiding a few of the deeper wounds. This time with him was too important to waste on arguments. After mending things with Taichi, I just had to figure out what I would do with Takeru. I had an idea that would suit the parties involved, minus myself, but it was still in the planning stages at that time.

"So, it is just you and your grandmother here?" Taichi asked after Kiyomi sat down on the chair positioned next to Taichi's side of the couch.

"There were photos of a family with a little boy in the hallway." Daisuke busted into the conversation while the others examined the shelves of books. "Is that your parents and little brother?"

"My parents live in another part of Japan." I noticed that Kiyomi seemed to dodge Daisuke's question, but didn't think much of it at the time. "I've lived with my grandmother since I was twelve. She is retired but does a lot of work for the historical society and a few city council positions. Festival days are her busiest times of the year."

"And your broth-"

"Found it." I interjected before Daisuke could press the question and handed my randomly marked selections to Kiyomi. I didn't know what was going on with the pictures of the little boy, but I knew better than to let Daisuke pester our hostess with questions. The way this trip had gone so far, there was a good chance the little boy had met with some tragic outcome and would destroy our new acquaintance to talk about.

Once the pages were printed and safely stowed away in my pocket, Kiyomi led us out of the study and into the main living room. After all of Daisuke's questioning, I couldn't help but notice the small picture of a little boy and two adults on the end table in the corner. The rest of the walls were coated with pictures of Kiyomi and a lady, I presumed, was her grandmother. Was there a mysterious story about that little boy? He definitely looked like he could be related to the young woman in front of us.

"Kiyomi," Hikari spoke up as the woman sat down beside her, "Didn't you say that you're going to be in a pageant?"

The girl nodded quite happily and gave Hikari a small wink, "Yes. The wish festival always holds a pageant to crown one of the lost loves."

"Lost love?" Taichi asked with genuine curiosity coating his voice.

"It's all based off of an old legend about two lovers from separate classes. The short version is that they were banished from seeing each other, made a wish on a summer star, and ended up running away together to live out their lives in Misawa." Kiyomi stood up and motioned to one of the many photos on the wall, "I was too young to enter last year, but I met the winner and she gave me a lot of pointers about the competition."

"Wow. She is beautiful." Hikari left her seat to get a closer look at the photograph. "I love her outfit."

"Want one?" A familiar smile crept onto Kiyomi's face and I had a quick Claire flashback. Were we _really_ going to go through another round of costumes? That hadn't been a good idea last time and it wouldn't be a good one now.

"Really?" My heart sunk as Hikari's eyes lit up and she gleefully accepted the opportunity to borrow an outfit. "Thank you, Kiyomi. You're sure it won't be too much trouble?"

"Its my pleasure. I love doing makeovers. Would you like to wear one as well?"

We looked amongst each other, unsure who Kiyomi was offering her other yukata too. When she noticed our confusion she stared directly at Ken and smiled. Daisuke burst into a giggle fit as the gender confusion settled over our group. I guess she had mistaken Ken's soft manner and long hair as a sign that he was of the female variety. Since Daisuke had been pretty loud through our introductions, it wasn't surprising that she might have missed the fact Ken was male. Due to his polite nature, I wondered how Ken would let Kiyomi know that he wasn't a girl. Had it been Taichi or Daisuke, I am sure the answer would have been sharp and blunt. But Ken merely sat in his chair and blushed as his brain attempted to find some nice way of telling Kiyomi about her mistake.

Daisuke nudged the boy in the side with his elbow and whispered something into his ear. Ken's blush grew a little darker and I frowned. What the heck was that boy trying to do? He knew that Ken's approach was less abrasive than his own and he should have respected that fact. Instead of backing off from the situation, Daisuke leaned in to Ken's side once again and I was able to read a little bit of what he said from his lip movements. The jerk actually dared Ken!

"If you're afraid I'll overdue your makeup, I can do a very natural look. You have such a pretty complexion, that you wouldn't need much on your face anyway." Kiyomi missed the point by a mile, and Daisuke once against whispered whatever his dare terms were into Ken's ear.

"Um, Kiyomi? It is nice for you to offer, but K-"

"Alright." Ken stood up and bowed his head in a dignified manner. I wasn't sure, but I could almost believe his voice was a little higher when he spoke to our hostess, "I appreciate that you are willing to help me dress up for the festival."

Taichi stared at me and I stared at Ken in complete surprise. If he wanted to dress up in a female yukata that was his business. But there was no way I could stand by and let Daisuke bully him into an awkward situation! After giving the instigating brunet a glare, I shifted my gaze back to Ken, "You don't have to-"

"It's all right, Yamato." Ken answered me softly, but I could still see the blush on his cheeks as he followed a happy Kiyomi and a confused Hikari out of the room.

"What the hell did you do to Ken?" Taichi impressed me by taking the disappointed in Daisuke route instead of joining his childish laughter. "Did you hold something over his head or blackmail him?"

"I didn't do anything." The boy held up his hands and lied to us, at least I would have bet my life savings he was lying.

"I saw you dare him." I pressed the statement and wondered what my brother was thinking about all of this. Takeru had remained silent and pretty much emotionless, minus the initial surprise, through the entire scene. Now, he seemed to be thinking rather deeply on something in his chair beside Ken's empty one.

"It was a joke." Daisuke sighed after he realized he was caught. "I just told him that I dared him to see how long he could make Kiyomi think he was a girl."

"And?" Takeru spoke up finally and seemed to sense, like the rest of us, that there was more to this deal then Daisuke admitted.

"I don't see what the big deal is. We have been daring each other on the whole trip. How do you think I got him in the van in the first place?"

We all knew that Ken was a genius. If he wanted to he could have easily passed the university test at sixteen. Well, I assumed he could have done it after seeing all of his past amazing feats of intellect. Since our first stop in Natori, I had run under the assumption that Ken had only agreed to come on the trip because he wanted to be near my brother. All of the attention he had paid to Takeru hadn't slipped past me. Even when the rest of the group had been silently pissed at each other, Ken had tried to take care of my hung over brother by offering him water and snacks.

Was it possible that Takeru could have motivated Ken to take the dare? It was all speculation, but I wondered if Takeru's comment about wishing I wasn't gay had injured someone beside myself. Takeru obviously liked women; Hikari was undeniable proof of that. Of course, there was a small connection between their personalities. Both Hikari and Ken had a gentle nature and a sweet disposition, but only one was a sparkly female. Could he actually be so desperate for Takeru's attention that he would try being a girl? The idea was far-fetched, even in my own head, but there _had_ to be a reason Ken was going along with this charade.

"And what did you think would happen when Hikari tells Kiyomi that Ken is a boy? You realize they are _changing_ clothes in there don't you?" Taichi stood up from his chair and seemed to be fighting a strong urge to go and yank Ken out of the back room.

"He would never do that." Takeru spoke up and looked at Taichi's torn expression. "We all know that Ken wouldn't act like a pervert. He'll probably find an excuse to hide in another room while everyone else dresses. Besides, if we tell her now she is going to be furious."

"Ken can't pretend to be a woman all day," Taichi paused for a moment then looked at me as if I knew how these things worked, "Can he?"

"_Why_ do you think I would know?" I shrugged my shoulders and tried to ignore the fact everyone in the room was staring at me like I was some cross-dressing expert. Daisuke had been the one to jump into the costumes, not me. Yet there I sat with three pairs of curious eyes boring into my soul. Just because I was the only full homosexual in the room didn't mean I had some sort of super power to tell the future.

"So," Daisuke pulled the attention from me before I snapped, and motioned to the entire group, "We all agree to pretend Ken is a girl until we get away from Kiyomi?"

A tense moment of silence passed over the group, before we all said, with varying emotions, "Yes."

An hour and a half later Hikari called out to us that we should close our eyes and not open them until she told us to. Taichi looked nervously at me once more and I couldn't find the ability to give him a completely steady smile. I knew that he was just as nervous as I was about this ruse, and I couldn't give him the 'gay super power assurance' he seemed to be looking for. Instead, I patted his hand once and turned away from him to avoid signaling our status to Kiyomi.

"Okay, you can open them."

At Hikari's command, we opened our eyes and immediately scanned the trio for Ken. He stood in the middle of the girls and still had a soft blush coating his pale cheeks. Something, besides his new female appearance, was different though. It was like he was nervous but had a small bout of newly found confidence in his subtle blue eyes. Where had that come from? Maybe he really did feel more comfortable in a girl outfit?

The yukata Kiyomi had selected for him was snow-white with splashes of deep purple on the sleeves and base. It started out dark at the ends but lightened gradually as the coloring moved upwards towards his chest. Throughout the changing shades were delicately drawn images of pale pink flowers. I knew little about flowers, but I was pretty sure those were some type of rose like thing. The obi around his waist was a darker pink and seemed to tie the whole purple, pink, and white combo together decently.

Our hostess had kept her word not to decorate Ken's face with too much makeup. His eyelashes were much more defined and the lids were coated in a tiny bit of pale pink. I felt strange staring at his face for so long, but I could not get over the fact he actually looked like a legitimate girl. Between the makeup, outfit, and floral hair clip Kiyomi had taken away any of Ken's signs of maleness. Heck, the boy even moved in a more graceful manner! As he turned to talk to Daisuke and Takeru I noticed his body seemed to glide effortlessly across the floor. I guess years of athletic training made it easier to move in a balanced manner?

"Woah," Daisuke smiled widely, and for once lost the giggles he had let out while the others changed. "You guys look great."

Hikari, in a bright pink yukata, and Kiyomi, in a more sunset colored ensemble, thanked him for his compliments with gentle smiles. While the three of them posed for photos that Takeru took with Hikari's camera, I noticed the way they looked at each other. The average person would never have believed these teens had only met each other a few hours ago. There was something about them that oozed closeness and bonding. What could make people that close that quickly? It was probably a girl thing, I figured, at least a girl and Ken thing.

Not long after the mini-photo shoot, Taichi announced we needed to head back to the festival grounds. By the time we arrived at the main performance stage, there was still a good hour and a half before Kiyomi had to head backstage for the pageant. Walking through the crowds to make it to the center of the festivities had been a little eye-opening to say the least. I caught multiple people staring at Ken with amorous or lustful eyes. Who knew a tiny outfit change and a little make-up could alter someone so drastically? I bet half of the boys and men who made goo-goo eyes at Ken would never have looked his way if he went out as a boy. In a way, it made me feel a little better about my orientation. Maybe this was proof that these sorts of things were a flexible force? If men who were straight could have an attraction to a man in a dress, it wasn't so odd that I could have an attraction to a man in a pair of jeans.

Ken missed the looks of the crowd and kept his eyes on the vibrant Kiyomi. He really didn't have much of a choice since she had pretty much chosen him as her new best friend. Their arms were linked together and she was more than happy to tell him every little piece of festival information. For his part, Ken smiled gently and nodded his head at the appropriate times. Daisuke took up Kiyomi's other side and seemed a little put out that she was giving him less attention then she gave Ken.

"Yamato?" Taichi spoke up and broke my observations.

"Hm?"

"Why don't we leave them to explore the festival?" I caught the meaning behind his words and nodded affirmatively. Kiyomi tried to explain that she didn't mind having us hang out with the rest of the sixteen year olds, but Taichi shook his head and happily refused her offer, "Nah, you don't need us following you guys around."

"We'll make it back in time for the pageant. I promise." My statement appeased Kiyomi and she waved as we wandered away from the group.

As I walked beside Taichi, I tried to remember the last time we had been alone. With the various people trying to head the opposite way, we often ended up bumping shoulders on the trip to the less crowded side of the festival. It was childish, but feeling his shoulder bump into mine every so often still left my skin with a tiny tingle. When Taichi and I had first kissed, I thought my body was bound to explode from the emotions and waves of butterflies rushing over me. As time passed the butterflies faded and a new feeling took over my body with each touch. I don't know what it meant when the butterflies disappeared, but that new feeling was so much stronger than those pesky insects. It felt so much more binding. Possibly, it was the puppy-love-versus-real-love thing my music teacher had once talked about. She swore that it was the people who could make it past the butterflies and to the new feeling that actually fully loved each other.

"Hungry?" Taichi asked as we hit the last food stand on the row of booths.

After making our purchases we walked a little further away and took up residence on a public bench. I watched the families milling around the game booths while Taichi dug into his cotton candy. He had chosen the bag coated with animated dinosaurs and seemed to be relishing the sweet taste of fluffy blue sugar. When he noticed I was watching him scarf down the package, he grinned cheekily and held out a small piece of fluff to me. Whether it was the blue tint on his lips or the adorable smile on his face, I don't know. Either way, I took the piece and laughed at his antics.

"I missed that sound." Taichi spoke up and seemed to be gauging how private our current location was. "Yama, I… I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"No, I shouldn't have gone around your back to figure out what was happening. I should have asked you, Tai."

We sat in silence for a few more minutes and he nibbled on a piece of fluff thoughtfully. After finishing the bite and licking his fingertips clean, he glanced back over at me, "I was always afraid of what you'd think of me if you heard that story. Sora always said she didn't think it was my fault, but she doesn't get it. She doesn't know what it is like to be the person who has to look after a sibling. But you… Man, you always seemed to know exactly what to do with Takeru."

"I'm not a perfect sibling." If Haven was proof of anything, it was that fact. "Besides, you were a little kid Taichi. You would never do anything to hurt Hikari, and you know it. Just because one bad thing happened doesn't mean you are a horrible human being."

"You know, the same goes for you."

"What?" I blinked a few times and tried to dissect what he was saying.

"Yamato, just because Takeru doesn't feel comfortable or like you being gay, doesn't mean you are horrible. I know you love Takeru, but you are also entitled to do what makes you happy. If he is the kid I think he is, he'll come around and see that."

I didn't know if Taichi was right about Takeru eventually coming to terms with the fact I was gay. I had just assumed that it would be easier to hide that part of my life from my brother or possibly ignore it and focus on studying or something. But listening to Taichi talk about his faith in my baby brother renewed a small hope that we could reach a common ground. There had to be a way to show Takeru that we may never get our parents back together, but that didn't make us less of a family. We were different, _I _was different, and maybe that was okay in the big scheme of things.

My hand inched along the space between us and took hold of Taichi's clean one. He squeezed mine tightly and I smiled at him as the tingle flurried in my chest. I wished the crowd would turn, if only for a moment, so I could feel Taichi's lips against mine. They were too busy to notice our hand holding, but a kiss might have pushed that luck too far. I glanced at my watch and noticed we still had at least forty minutes to kill.

"So my fellow non-perfect," Taichi laughed and threw a piece of his cotton candy at my head, "Want to try a few games?"

He broke our hand hold and gave me that ever-adorable grin, "You are going down Ishida."

"Well see, Yagami."

Thirty-three minutes later and I was the proud owner of a stuffed purple wolf. Taichi, however, was the proud owner of three different stuffed animals, an obnoxious water balloon yoyo, and a new headband with the festival's name and year written on it. My wolf had been the product of a lottery game, which required no skill what so ever. A fact Taichi had immaturely taunted me with as he proceeded to win the shooting game, the scooping water balloons activity, and of course the ring toss. By the time he demanded we go see the most crowded booth, I had been wiling to abandon him and head off to the stage.

"Come on," He pestered me playfully and tugged on my arm, "I promise I won't tease you this time. In fact, I'll let you win."

"That might have worked if you hadn't told me you were going to do it." I knew better than to have inspired Taichi's competitive side, so I couldn't really blame him for being a tad overbearing.

When we reached the front of the line, I was surprised to see someone handing out small slips of paper. Secretly, I hoped this was some lottery game that would give me a fighting chance against Taichi. The man running the booth smiled at us and handed each of us a paper and a writing utensil. It wasn't until he spouted off some line about what was our greatest desire that I caught on to everything.

I had done a wish tree once or twice in my life, but Taichi easily had me outnumbered when it came to festival activities. His family had been big fans of the various festivals near and far from Odaiba. There were plenty of stories told about past festivals over his family dinners. The food had never been very good, but the warm stories of past family adventures had always been nice. As we moved off to the side with the other wish writers, Taichi stared at me with a curious expression.

"What?" I tapped my paper nervously and wondered if I should make a real wish or something more socially acceptable.

"Just wondering what you are going to wish for."

"You can't tell people what you wish for." I reminded him and settled on my wish for the festival.

"I'm wishing for Japan to win the world cup. Now you." His own paper was already decorated in some scribble writing and he seemed to be impatient about finding out my wish.

"No way. Just because you are risking your wish doesn't mean I am going to risk mine."

"You are such a stick in the mud." He chuckled and tried to get a glimpse of my paper.

"An ability that has kept you alive this long." I felt the childish side of my brain kick into gear and I pushed his head away from me. He faked an extremely hurt expression and rested his head on the table as if I had shot him with some painful arrow. I took advantage of his distraction to finish writing my fondest wish on the piece of paper.

We had to hustle across the grounds to make it back in time for the show after wishing on the papers. Hikari and Takeru flagged us down and we slid into the empty seats next to them. Although our siblings and Ken were present, I didn't see any sign of Daisuke. It was safe to assume that Kiyomi had already headed backstage, but that didn't offer any clues about the missing boy. Taichi beat me to the question of the hour and Takeru leaned over Hikari to fill us in.

"They were short one male escort." He lowered his voice since the announcer was nearing the stage, "Apparently, they had a costume backstage and since it was Ken's turn to dare Daisuke, he sent him with Kiyomi."

"He agreed to be involved in a pageant?" Taichi asked with disbelief.

"After the dare and a kiss from Kiyomi, he practically drug her to the stage." Takeru laughed softly and turned to look at the stage.

The first thing I noticed amongst the beautiful contestants and their escorts was Daisuke. The smile on his face was ear to ear and he seemed to be looking out at the public through star filled eyes. Kiyomi had to be quite the kisser to put him in that much of a daze. As they took their turn coming center stage, everyone in our row clapped happily and waited to see if Daisuke would be able to pull off his pageant début.

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**Anyone care to guess what Yamato's wish was? : ) **

**This turned out to be a little dialogue heavy for my taste. I'll work on that for next time, promise. **


	13. Don't Tell Him What Happened To Me

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**Thank you for the lovely reviews everyone! You are all sweet to take time out to talk about the chapter. There is a new forum called '****The Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs' created by the alpha phoenix. If you have the chance, go check it out! It is going to be fun boys and girls :).**

**Okay, here is another chapter of 'A Fork In The Road'.**

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There are moments in life when you expect the worst possible outcome and end up with something beautiful. On the day I turned thirteen, for example, I thought that no one had remembered it was my birthday. It wasn't the first time the day had slipped by my parents' attention. Most of the birthday cards from my mother had date stamps from any of the three months surrounding my actual birth month. The thing that had really shocked me, was the fact my friends had forgotten the event as well. Consistency was a force I knew little about, but those boys and girls had been the closest thing I ever had to that principle.

When Taichi had tried to invite me over that night to help him with his homework, I had unceremoniously grumbled at him and hung up the phone. No longer then ten minutes later, that persistent hairball had shown up at my door and demanded that I go with him. I had refused and he had shown me his strangely developed muscles were more than capable of dragging me out of the apartment. I tired him out halfway to his place and he threw his hands up in the air exasperated. Before I had been able to throw a verbal or physical punch, he launched into a rather surprising speech about the fact, if I was going to fight this hard then I could just miss the damn party. While my, completely, unexpected surprise party had been quite the event, I can honestly say that it wasn't the best part of the night. The best part happened in the middle of the park, between our two apartment complexes, when Taichi told me with a giant grin that he would never forget my special day and gave me the tightest hug of my life.

Daisuke's performance with Kiyomi was nowhere near as memorable as my birthday, but it was a sight to see. He was required, I judged from the other escorts, to walk her up to the front of the stage and escort her around the wooden floor whenever her turn came. Thankfully, he wasn't asked to do anything too choreographed. As much soccer skill as the boy had in his body, he wouldn't be able to pick up a dance routine within a few minutes. I didn't know anything about these types of contests, but Kiyomi and Daisuke must have done something right because only an hour later the announcer placed the plastic tiara on her head.

"You won!" Hikari giggled happily as Kiyomi rejoined our group, after posing for a few special photographs with festival officials.

"It was hard not to with such a handsome escort and a cheering section." Kiyomi giggled with her friend and clasped Hikari's hands, as if both needed to anchor themselves to the ground.

"The judges would have been blind to pick anyone else." Daisuke boasted and seemed to be enjoying the fact he was called handsome by a beauty queen.

Hikari demanded to document the event and took her time grouping us into an appropriate picture arrangement. I stood next to Taichi since we were the tallest of the group and let Kiyomi stand in front of me. Daisuke butted in next to her after he noticed Ken standing on the opposite side. Why would he be jealous of a guy who Kiyomi thought was a girl? Sure, the two shared a sort of secret smile, but almost every girl I knew gave their friends that same look. Daisuke must have really liked that girl if he was feeling threatened by someone in drag, who most likely didn't even like girls in that way.

We remained at the festival for a few more hours after the pageant, spending the time dining on various pieces of holiday food and playing random games. Taichi had given up his stance on the 'buy a souvenir and die' policy after the others called him out on the fact he had an armful of prizes. By the time we left the area and headed back to Kiyomi's home, the sun was close to setting and only their yellow front porch lights illuminated the humongous homes. In front of Kiyomi's home was a set of paper lanterns strung around the top of the front door.

"My grandmother is home," Kiyomi smiled as we all took in the sight of her colorful home against the plain backdrop, "She can't help but take a few of the decorations home when the festivals end."

Itou Satomi was a grandmother in the sense she was old and had a grandchild, but that was where the stereotype stopped. Unlike my grandmother, who demanded a proper title and the utmost respect from her grandchildren, Satomi demanded we call her a more casual title and join her for a cup of tea. I couldn't bring myself to address her purely as Satomi, neither could some of my companions, so we settled on the title 'Satomi-san'. She had already brewed a large amount of tea before our arrival, so she handed out steaming cups within a few minutes of our entrance.

"I am so glad to meet all of you." She announced from her position in the largest arm-chair of the living room, "It isn't often we have company over."

"Wh-" Taichi tried to subtly elbow Daisuke before the elder could hear his question, but she smiled in their direction and shook her head softly.

"It's alright. I'm not sure why we have so few visitors. I guess they just don't enjoy our company too much. Their loss."

I choked on my tea at that statement and glanced at Satomi's face. I had never heard someone her age, or even my parents' age, speak so frankly about others. When I met her dark eyes, I could feel the pride and strength shining in them. This woman had an aura about her that simply commanded respect. It was a type of respect I had never encountered before. One that didn't rely on mere age, but the fact she had possibly seen quite a few struggles and fought a few battles during her time. This woman, although I had no Earthly idea why, earned my full attention and a bit of my respect with just a few words.

When Satomi excused herself to make a little more tea for the group, Kiyomi offered Hikari and Ken the chance to get out of their yukatas and back into their regular clothes. Daisuke watched them walk away and seemed to still be feeling a little uneasy about Ken spending time with Kiyomi. Taichi tugged the back of his shirt and forced the boy to sink back down into his spot on the couch.

"You know," Daisuke offered as Hikari, re-dressed in her original outfit, wandered back into the room a little while later, "I really should go get Ken out of there. He is probably tired of pretending now."

"I think Kiyomi sent him to the last door on the left or something? I thought he would be through changing by now, but I guess it took him longer." Hikari sat down next to Takeru on the loveseat and blushed when he smiled at her affectionately.

"We have to head out before the campsite closes its office," Daisuke slipped past Taichi's grasp and backed down the hallway, "I'll just go let him know we have to get going."

"Don't do anything stupid." Taichi and I threatened almost unanimously since we both knew that this scenario could end horribly.

It wasn't five minutes and a sip of tea later that the bottom fell out of our generally pleasant day. Daisuke's shocked exclamation filled the air and he darted out of the hall so quickly, that I assumed his heels had set fire to the floor. When he spotted the group members sporadically spaced in the room, his face glanced at each of us in turn and mumbled some unintelligible sentence. I stood up from my seat and tried to shake his shoulders and snap him out of the trance.

"I…she…he…they…it…" The boy mumbled every word in time with each quick breath his lungs took.

"Daisuke," I sighed and prayed we weren't about to have the police called on us, _again_. He probably looked like a strung out druggy at this point. "Take a breath and speak slowly."

He took a deep breath then admitted in a far too loud and cracked voice, "She has a penis!"

The room fell silent as my hands dropped from his shoulders. Of all the things I expected Daisuke to blurt out, that hadn't been on the list. Honestly, I had more faith in the idea that he saw Ken and Kiyomi kissing then her having male body parts. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Satomi rising up from her seat. I figured we had a good run before getting called crazy and kicked to the curb.

"Do you mean Ken had one?" It was worth a shot. How much more trouble could it get us into?

"No! I told you, _she _has a penis!" He flailed his hands in a bit of panic as Kiyomi and Ken reentered the room behind him. Kiyomi was still in her yukata, but Ken was back to his regular self minus the make-up. "I opened the wrong door and there it was!"

"I can explain." My heart went out to Kiyomi as her broken voice filtered through the room.

"No," Satomi stood next to her granddaughter, or grandson as the case might be, and clutched her shoulders tightly, "You don't have to tell them anything. I think our visit is done for today. You should see yourselves off of my property, now."

"No," Ken walked up to Kiyomi's other side and gave her and Satomi a kind smile, "Please, if you explain it like you explained it to me, they won't judge you. I promise my friends are very open and loving people."

Kiyomi nodded her head softly and clutched Ken's hand tightly. Satomi didn't look like she supported this idea in the slightest, but the woman relented after her grandchild gave her a look I couldn't make out. The teens' hands remained linked together as Kiyomi moved over to the extra chairs her grandmother had pulled in from the kitchen when we had first arrived. It wasn't a romantic or lustful gesture by any means. It reminded me of the way Hikari and Takeru held hands when they were younger. There was an innocence and comfort about it that made my own nerves drop a level.

Daisuke, on the other hand, remained freaked out about the facts being represented. I wasn't sure if he was upset that she was at least a cross dresser or that he had technically kissed a guy. As far as I knew, it could be both. Watching him gasp for some type of understandable words proved that he was panicked enough to be thinking about both aspects. But he hadn't panicked when we saw multiple cross dressers at Haven. Granted, none of them were even in the same category as the extremely feminine looking Kiyomi. I pulled him over to the couch and sat him between Taichi and I. The least we could do was hear the explanation Ken seemed to think solved all the misconceptions.

"I was born a boy," Kiyomi admitted and seemed even more nervous to tell her story when she noticed Satomi's protective grandparent stare threatening our group. I had to admit I was scared and yet impressed by the older woman's ferocity. It was refreshing to see a person of her age be that supportive of their transgendered loved one.

"My parents didn't know what to do with me. They didn't understand that I liked to wear dresses and play with my cousin's dolls. I always knew that I didn't feel comfortable in my body. I just knew, somehow, that I wasn't a boy. I had the parts, but my heart and brain were female. After my father caught me wearing a dress I had secretly bought, he…well, he tried his hardest to make sure I would never like girl things again."

When Kiyomi's voice faltered, I noticed Ken's hand squeeze her hand a little tighter; "My grandmother saw the bruises and convinced my parents to let me come live with her. Really, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. My grandmother let me attend school as a female. It was the best two weeks of my life; no one stared at me or called me names. Everyone treated me like a girl, until I refused to change gym clothes with the other girls. The school figured it out and made such a scene, that I couldn't even attend other schools in the area without going as a boy and being tormented and harassed the entire time. So, I dropped out."

"So," Hikari tried her hardest to ask the question delicately and considerately, "You are still physically a boy? Is that why you had us all change in different rooms?"

Kiyomi nodded and offered her new friend a small smile, "Yes. I didn't want to freak you out. You see, I can't undergo any type of reassignment surgery until I turn eighteen."

"Wait, wait," Daisuke looked from Ken to Kiyomi then back to Ken, "You _knew _all this?"

"Kiyomi explained it to me, when we were first picking out outfits. She noticed my Adam's apple and one thing led to another." Ken answered the question relatively easily.

I couldn't believe what a risk Kiyomi had taken in regards to her own secret. Almost everyone in our circle of friends knew Ken was as trustworthy and loyal as they came, but she had no idea about all that. She trusted him with something that had brought her so much pain and persecution from other people. How could someone who had faced as much trouble and pain as Kiyomi still have faith in other humans? My faith in people had been shaken when I was just a little kid. Yet when my scars had left me an untrusting cynic, hers had left her a slice of hope and trust. She smiled at Ken as if they were old friends and I couldn't help but reconsider the speech she had given me on the side of the road. Could she have been right about learning to trust others despite a few bad experiences? I wasn't going to sign up for any 'trust your fellow man' retreats anytime soon, but it was a principle worth thinking about.

"You knew and you still let me kiss a guy?!" Daisuke's voice rose as he offered Ken a rather unpleasant expression, "Why wouldn't you have told me? I thought we were supposed to be best friends?"

"Didn't you hear her? She's a girl." Takeru left me dumbfounded by giving Kiyomi a supportive smile and defending her against Daisuke's astonished statement. What could have inspired his change of heart on LGBTQ issues?

"Well, yeah… kind of. I still think Ken was supposed to give me a warning before I kissed Kiyomi." Daisuke knew that he was treading on thin ice. I could easily see the sweat forming on his hairline as he tried to find a way to voice his objections. I couldn't see the happy-go-lucky teen being anti-transgender, but I could see him being anti-Daisuke kissing guys.

"What's wrong with kissing guys?" Taichi's voice added to my surprise as he turned to stare at his soccer friend. Apparently, there was some sort of acceptance drug floating in the air that I wasn't informed about.

"Daisuke," Ken spoke up after sharing a glance with Kiyomi. He dropped her hand and tried to approach the teenager, "I'm sorry, but it wasn't my secret to tell. I swore that I would not tell anyone and I really had no idea that you were going to kiss her until you did."

"I... I need some air." Daisuke got up and walked out the front door before any of us could stop him.

Ken's face looked rather dejected as he watched his best friend leave in a cloud of confusion. I knew the exact feeling flashing across his face, due to entirely different circumstances in my past. Keeping something that large from someone who was important to you was always hard. In fact, it was damn hard. Ken had done the right thing by honoring his promise, but the look in his eyes illustrated the extreme worry he felt for his friendship. Daisuke would come around, he always bounced back after a hit. It was Ken I worried about when it came to emotions. He was much more sensitive and kind, and with his potential crush on Takeru a near impossible feat, he needed a strong friend more than ever. After watching how much fun he had dressed as a girl, I also wondered if he worried that Daisuke would begin to look at him with the same panic in his eyes as he had shown Kiyomi.

A few more questions and the exchanging of e-mails and phone numbers later, Daisuke reentered the room. He didn't say much to us but he did apologize to Satomi and Kiyomi for yelling and making such a scene in their home. A small surge of pride shot through my chest as he proved that he had matured a little over the years we had known each other. I waited for him to apologize to Ken as well, but he avoided looking at his friend and seemed to still be harboring negative feelings. I guess it was easier for him to forgive strangers versus his best friend. The out of character way Daisuke held his grudge unsettled me, but it wasn't my place to fix or meddle in their friendship.

"We need to head off to the campground." Taichi announced as Kiyomi and Hikari started yet another conversation about some yukata in Hikari's closet at home.

"I can't let you go to a campground at this hour." Satomi, who had taken quite a liking to almost every member of our group when we didn't completely freak at Kiyomi's announcement, shook her head softly and placed a hand on Taichi's shoulder, "We have more than enough room here. You are all welcome to stay the night."

Had you asked me only a few weeks prior, 'Would Taichi sleep in the home of a woman and her transgender granddaughter he barely knew?' I would have told you a flat-out no. In fact, I would have probably told you there were a snowball's chance in the Bahamas that he would take that deal. Which explains how amazed I was when Hikari's pleading and Satomi's smile garnered a positive answer.

Hikari and her new friend cheered and announced that they were keeping Ken with them for the night. The boy hadn't been the same since Daisuke stormed out of the room, but he still smiled at the girls and admitted that he would be okay with spending more time with them. Takeru, who seemed a little confused about Ken's sudden popularity, agreed to bunk with Daisuke on the fold out couch. I don't know if he chose Daisuke on purpose or not, but I was grateful to know that I got to stay with Taichi. Not to mention the fact we were given the actual guest room, complete with a real bed and other amenities.

By the time Taichi and I had climbed under the covers, my eyes began to feel pretty heavy. My boyfriend's arms wrapped around my body and pulled me closer to him. I leaned my head away from his and stared at the walls. His lips graced my bare shoulder and I could sense the fact his mind was racing, by the way his thumb continuously traced the same circle pattern on my abdomen.

"I liked what you said." I admitted and turned my head to face him, "It was nice for you and Takeru to stand up for Kiyomi."

He kissed my lips and rested his head so close that our foreheads were touching, "It was the right thing to do. She needed our support."

I wondered, a thought fully blamed on my exhausted brain, what Taichi thought about Kiyomi. She was pretty and, thanks to certain hormone blocking pills, retained a feminine voice and slightly feminine features. Taichi liked women and Kiyomi was sort of a woman and sort of a man. Wouldn't that be the perfect mixture? If he liked both genders why not be with someone who was both genders in some fashion?

"What's up?" Taichi seemed to have noticed the way I held him tightly as my thoughts ran away with my brain.

"Taichi," Was I really going to ask this?

"What is it Yama?" He kissed my forehead and I could smell his earthy scent. When I didn't respond for a few minutes, his lips found my right temple, "I know your brain is thinking about something. Just tell me."

"How do you… what do you think about Kiyomi?"

He paused for a moment and raised a confused eyebrow, "She seems like a nice person?"

"I mean, do you find the idea of someone like Kiyomi attractive? You like guys and girls and she is a guy and a girl…or was a guy and girl…" The acidic taste of insecurity and stupidity washed over my mouth as I waited for his answer to possibly the dumbest question of the year.

"You're crazy." He laughed softly and kissed my frowning lips, "Yamato, Kiyomi is a wonderful person, but she isn't the wonderful person for me. I like who I like. Sometimes it is a guy and sometimes it is a girl. That is just how it goes, I guess."

I felt ridiculous for even asking the question, but Taichi didn't patronize my stupidity. Instead, his hand traveled the length of my side and thigh with slowly increasing friction. As his lips found mine once again, I couldn't help but respond to their motions.

"You," He whispered into my ear before playfully biting it, "Are who I like. I love ya, Yama-chan."

"Right back at you hairball." I laughed softly and felt Taichi's arms pull me into a romantic embrace.

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**Can you tell that I am enjoying this story so much I keep pumping out chapters too fast yet? Hope this one was fun for you guys and gals. And Kal-El Fornia, someday I will surprise you with a plot point lol. **


	14. I Forgot to Remember to Forget

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**Thank you for joining together for another chapter. A special thank you to all my guest reviewers, because I can't send you a personal thank you message over the site.**

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The next morning I woke up with a slightly fresher outlook on life. Taichi was snoring in the bed and seemed to be enjoying a particularly deep level of sleep. I slid out of the bed as quietly as possible and slunk into the connected bathroom. He still hadn't budged when I exited a few minutes later in clean clothes, so I left him to sleep for a little while longer.

When I made it to the kitchen, Satomi was reading the newspaper and drinking _another_ cup of tea. The three cups from last night had been more than enough for my yearly intake. The mere smell of the stuff forced my stomach to twist uncomfortably. But when Satomi greeted me with a large smile and offered a cup, I hadn't been able to turn her down. After everything that had happened last night, there was no way I could be anything but polite to her.

"I wanted to thank you." She folded the paper up and took a slow sip of her drink, "You and your friends were very kind to my granddaughter."

"Thank you, but, I didn't really do anything. Ken and Takeru, and the others deserve that much more than me."

"Yamato," She waited until I looked into her eyes, "Sometimes, just being open and accepting of a person is a big thing. You might not have been as vocal as the others, but I know that Kiyomi could see the look of understanding in your eyes last night. Even I was able to see it, and I didn't have my glasses on."

The more time I spent with Satomi, the more I enjoyed her company. I found myself wishing that there were some way we were related. None of my relatives, I was almost certain, would ever be as caring and protective as this grandmother. Takeru would have been there if someone attacked me verbally or physically, but this was different. Having an adult figure totally love and accept you was special. It meant that you had someone older and wiser who would always look out for your best interests and help you navigate the world. I knew from experience how painful trying to figure this stuff out on your own was, and I was thankful someone was watching out for Kiyomi.

"You are a wonderful grandmother." I admitted to Satomi who watched me from behind her bifocals, "I know you must have worked hard to create a positive environment for Kiyomi."

"It wasn't easy," She leaned back in her chair and took a moment to collect her thoughts, "We had to move from the town I was born and raised in after the reveal. I cannot understand how people can claim to be your friends and then turn their back on you the moment you need them most."

I nodded my head in response, fully understanding what she meant.

"But, we moved on and became tougher from it. I knew the kind of mean-spirited people who would try and hurt my granddaughter or change the wonderful person she is, and I did everything in my power to keep them from her and anyone else like her."

"Is that why you joined the groups in town? Kiyomi mentioned that you were on a board of some kind."

Satomi nodded and smiled when I said Kiyomi's name, "Yes. It is the best way to keep tabs on everything going on in town. I managed to curb two different discussions on creating anti-homosexuality policies in the area. It isn't much, but it is a start. And I plan on fighting until there are full rights for transgendered people in Japan."

"I wish my parents were as supportive as you." The phrase slipped out of my mouth before I could censor it, but I didn't feel the need to take it back. If there was anyone in the world I wanted to talk about this stuff with, at that moment in time, it was Satomi.

"Ah, so you and the brunet?" She smiled at me and I noted how similar it looked to when my mother found out Takeru and Hikari were dating. Sure, it was a little pathetic, but I had secretly wished to see my mother smile at Taichi and me in the same manner. This was probably as close as I would ever come to that dream, so I soaked in the warmth the simple facial gesture offered.

"Taichi, yeah." I took my first sip of tea and hid the cringe when the surprisingly cold liquid washed down my throat. "We've been together for a while now."

"And your parents took it poorly when you told them?"

"Um, actually… I never told them. They have no idea we are anything more than friends."

Satomi was silent for a moment, and then leaned forward to stare closely at my face. Her eyes were small, but I could see the genuine kindness shimmering inside them, "If you haven't told them, how do you know they won't support you Yamato? I can't promise you that they will be fully onboard with the idea, but you'll never know until you talk to them. Family is important, and a family will function a lot better when people are honest and open."

"I guess," I watched her smile at me as I tried to digest her statement and the iced tea. Was I wrong to just assume mom and dad would hate me if they found out? Would me coming out to them _really_ change their views on all this stuff? In that moment a thought overtook my mind and I visibly shivered. Since childhood, I had sworn I would never be like my parents. They never spoke to each other, unless they were yelling about something and not listening to each other's words, and always assumed the worst of each other. When had I started to mimic those behaviors?

The drive for that morning was scheduled to be relatively short. The main half of our journey for the day would be spent on a ferryboat heading towards Hakodate. It wasn't a long trip, two or three hours tops, but it was something different then sitting in a car for hours on end. Most of us were excited about the chance to spend a little time on the water. Takeru and Hikari had already discussed the various animals they hoped to capture on film and Taichi teased them with the idea they might find a mythical sea creature. When Takeru made a tiny joke about finding a kappa, I couldn't fight the grin that spread across my cheeks. Taichi didn't seem to see the humor in the situation, but he brushed it off and started telling the teens to look for our exit. I sat in the farthest area of the back and tried to work on memorizing my monologues. A task that would have been, unquestionably, easier if I had been able to stop staring at Ken.

The boys hadn't spoken to each other since last night. Now that Ken and I were in the very back of the van, I could secretly watch him stare at Daisuke situated in the seat in front of us. There was a look of sadness on his face and I couldn't help but wonder if that was the way I had looked when I lost my first best friend. Then again, Ken hadn't really lost his friend. I fully believed that Daisuke would bounce back and forget the whole thing soon, but my blue haired seatmate didn't seem to share my feelings.

"There it is!" Taichi called out to us as he pulled up to the ferry boarding area. "Its huge!"

During the planning stages of our trip, I had made sure to set out a large amount of money for the times we would be using water taxis. It wasn't cheap to send a car across the water, but there was no way around it when your destination was on a separate island. The thing I hadn't planned on was the fact there was far more ways to spend money on the ferry ride then just paying for your entrance. Inside the main section of the ferry, or mini-cruise-ship as I called it, was a small restaurant and a tiny shop or two. On the opposite side of the space was a medium-sized crowd playing some sort of Bingo game.

"Yama, come on." Taichi motioned for me to join the others in the food line. "You can play Bingo later. I'm starving."

"When are you not?" He smiled at me and I noticed someone was missing in the line. "Where is Ken?"

Daisuke looked away from me when I asked about his friend, but Hikari fielded the question for the others, "He said he was feeling a little sea sick and went out to the observation deck."

I didn't buy the seasickness excuse and I was pretty sure Daisuke didn't either. Unlike me, the boy seemed to be planning on avoiding the conversation at hand and settled on eating an order of sushi. I bought two Cokes and promised Taichi I would be back in a little while, before heading off to meet Ken. Someone had to help that kid, and it seemed like no one else was planning on stepping up to the job.

Due to a small amount of mist and lower than average temperatures, the observation deck was nearly void of people. I spotted a few couples and a tired looking mother chasing after her toddler on one end, while Ken sat alone on the opposite side. His eyes scanned the horizon as if he was waiting for some of Taichi's mythical creatures to appear. I figured asking him what he had seen would probably be a waste of breath, since his eyes appeared glazed over as I approached.

"Here." I handed him a coke and leaned my forearms on the railing. Staring directly at Ken would have probably freaked him out, so I settled on watching a few birds fly beside the ferry. "It will help settle your stomach."

"Thanks." Ken took a long sip and let out a breath after finishing. "Where are the others?"

I wondered if he was really trying to ask where a certain boy was, "Eating in the café still. You hungry?"

Ken shook his head as I turned to look at him. My back rested against the tall railing and I tried to plan out my next course of action. I didn't like to do anything without a plan. That was one of the main reasons our friends' believed Taichi and I were a slightly odd (yet slightly good for each other) couple. A planner and a doer cannot mix without a few sparks; At least, that was what I had heard Miyako say to Mimi once upon a time. In some ways they were right, it was extremely hard to handle Taichi's random moments of inspiration. But after years of knowing him, I could honestly say I had gotten a little better at handling the flow and would miss them if they disappeared. _Going_ with the flow was an ability I knew I would never possess, but _handling _the flow was kind of possible.

"Yamato," Ken spoke up softly and I glanced at his face. The way he scrunched up his forehead and flashed a worried glance over his shoulder was all too familiar to me.

"Yes?" I forced myself to let him say his piece without interrupting him.

"I wanted to talk to you about something…" His chest rose as he took a long and deep breath. Part of me wondered if this was easier, in some way, for him to say since he knew how I felt on the subject. "It is a little personal, but I just… I want to talk to someone about it. I _need_ to talk about it before my brain finally bursts."

"Ken," I kept a casual tone and tried to smile reassuringly, "If you want to talk then I am happy to listen, but you don't have to say anything you don't want to."

"It's just… it concerns you too."

Oh yeah, I thought while forcing my face to stay fixed in a calm, casual expression, this was the talk I had expected since before we started this little adventure.

"I," Ken took a deep breath and placed his fists on his knees, "I think I might be…like a guy."

Without a second of thought, I nodded my head and gave Ken a true smile. I knew how hard it was to tell someone, anyone that statement and I was proud that he had the courage to tell me. The boy kept his hands tightly balled up and waited for me to say something in regards to his announcement. Well, I assumed he was waiting for some sign of comfort since his eyes had not left my face the entire time.

"I'm glad you told me." I found myself imagining the things I would have wished to hear from my parents if I had come out to them. Was there a right thing to say for everyone in this situation? Like some greeting card expression that perfectly captured the feelings of each boy and girl facing this road? No, but I figured I couldn't go wrong with honesty and acceptance like Satomi had mentioned that morning. "I know it isn't easy to say that kind of thing."

"Yeah." Ken gave a hollow laugh and still seemed rather anxious.

"Is there something else?"

"How do you…" Ken paused for a moment and took another breath, "How can you get over someone who doesn't see you like you see them?"

"Well," This was far from my realm of expertise, but I couldn't abandon him now. I knew how rare it was that Taichi, my semi-straight boy crush, had worked out and I felt bad giving the kid false hope that he could change people's orientations. Taichi, according to him, had been bi-curious ages before we became an item. But I seriously doubted that Takeru held the same secret as my boyfriend. "Love isn't easy. Sometimes, you have to learn to accept that you can't be with someone and just remember that there is somebody out there for you. You can always be friends though, if you both want to be."

"How did it happen with you and Taichi?" Ken seemed to have gotten past his initial anxiety and was now filled with questions. "Wasn't he straight before?"

This wasn't something I felt completely comfortable sharing with another person. Was it okay to tell Ken about Taichi being bi-curious for years? Taichi had been nervous to even tell me about those times, so it probably wasn't best to tell Ken that much. Besides, Ken probably didn't want to know that Taichi had sometimes fantasized about guys when he made out with Sora or his other old girlfriends.

"He was bisexual, it just wasn't a public thing. I just don't think that Takeru is the same way in that regard."

Crap. Crap. Crap. What had I just done? Somewhere between protecting Taichi's secret thoughts and trying to comfort Ken, my brain must have slipped. So much for the goal of letting him come out with the information on his own terms. The last thing the kid needed was to be pushed into admitting things he wasn't ready to admit. It was enough that he had been able to admit that he was possibly gay or bisexual. I looked at his face expecting to see anything from anger to sadness, but he merely stared at me in confusion.

"What does Takeru have to do with any of this?"

"Um," My mouth tripped over the words my hyperventilating brain was trying to shove out, "Don't you… I mean, I thought… You like him?"

"Takeru?" Ken's eyes widened slightly and he shook his head to illustrate how incorrect I was, "I don't like Takeru like that."

"But, I watched you stare at him so longingly through the trip, and you always go out of your way to take care of him. And you even said this whole thing concerns me somehow. If you liked my brother that would be a way to concern me." We were already down the rabbit hole, so I ran forward.

"I took care of him because he is one of my best friends. I do that for anyone I care about. And all I meant by 'this concerns you' is that you were in my position once before. You found a way to get the straight guy to fall in love with you."

"And the staring?" I asked as the stupidity of my assumptions settled over me.

"Well, I did do that a little. I just wondered what it would be like to be able to hold someone and kiss them like Takeru and Hikari get to. They don't have to worry about people staring at them or protesting their right to be together. I just wanted that kind of security for my future relationships."

"Ah…" How could this sixteen-year-old boy explain away my entire theory so easily? The fact his answers actually sounded pretty logical didn't help anything either. "So, if it isn't Takeru?"

"Daisuke." Ken's answer was whispered so softly I had to sit down beside him so I could hear what he was saying, "I have liked him for a while, but I could never tell him. Now he won't even speak to me. I guess we won't get to be friends either. It's strange how even when I know that I have these feelings about some boys, I still wish I could change it. More than anything, I wish I could be like Takeru and Daisuke and just be interested in women."

I watched his face sink into a sour expression and realized how much I had in common with Ken. All these years I had assumed we were so different from each other. He was athletic, intelligent, and able to handle strangers without a shred of difficulty. I was unskilled, average, and considered a loner by people outside my group. How could I have been so blind to the fact he was also a kid trying his hardest to come to terms with his sexuality? His wish was something I had repeated to myself every night when I was a teenager. Did Ken lay in his bed and repeat the mantra 'I'm not gay' over and over like I had?

The first time I really came to terms my orientation was when I was about Ken's age. I had tried so hard to force myself into liking girls and ignoring the way guys made me feel. Everything from dating Jun to physically hurting myself when I fantasized about a guy was attempted and failed. Then one day, I came up with the worst plan of all; if I just gave into my feelings once, then they would go away. I never knew his real name, but at that time I had just been so desperate for my brain to stop that I didn't care. I know little about psychology, but I'm pretty sure that I had blocked out most of that encounter. All I remembered was sneaking into a club, following him to a bathroom, trying to demand we use protection, and a whole lot of pain.

It was the most irresponsible and most idiotic choice I ever made in my life. The whole thing only got worse a few months later when I gave in to my fear and I took my self to the medical clinic for a HIV test. Sitting in that cold waiting room with the eyes of every other patient staring at me, wondering what I was in for, was close to torture. The real torture came later, when I realized that the test results were not automatic. Waiting to find out if I had a disease that could kill me was the hardest thing I have ever done.

As far as Taichi and the others were concerned, I disappeared off the planet for a while. How could I have faced them? There was no way to just go about my normal life and pretend the world wasn't going to come crashing down at any moment. I spent most of the time imagining what would happen when everyone found out I was infected, which I just knew in my gut would be the case. What would my parents say? What if my dad kicked me out? Would my friends abandon me or think I was some kind of freak? I hated crying with every fiber of my being, but when the doctor told me my results were negative, I couldn't help but let out tears of relief right there in his exam room.

When I looked at Ken's face and noticed the same depression sink over his features, I knew that I had to do something. I would be damned before I let Ken take the same path I had. He wasn't going to give part of himself up to a stranger like he didn't matter, sit alone in a doctor's office waiting to see if he had contracted some deadly disease from an extremely poor choice, suffer the fear of hiding a secret that big from the love of his life, or contemplate if he'd be better ending it all as long as I was around. I couldn't make Daisuke love him the way Ken wanted, but I could be there for him and make sure his path was less jagged and broken than mine.

"Ken," I placed a hand on his shoulder and offered him a hopeful smile, "There is nothing wrong with you. You are important, no matter what. Remember that."

I doubted he fully understood the depth of that statement, but that was okay. The main thing was he had it in his head as he went on through life. Ken was a smart enough kid to figure it out. In fact, the way he smiled at me and thanked me so earnestly, convinced me he would have it figured out way before I ever did.

"I still have to find a way to fix things with Daisuke." He mumbled a few seconds later as his stomach let out a low rumble.

"Well, how about we start by having lunch with them? If I leave Taichi alone too long he is bound to get into trouble."

Ken laughed and followed me back towards the ferry's café, "How could he get in trouble on a ferry-boat?"

"He'll find a way." Little did I know, he actually would bring my theory to fruition.

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**So, now we have a little more history on Yamato's past. Was anyone else waiting to reach the Ken talk chapter? I have thought about this one for ages lol! **


	15. I've Just Seen a Face

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.**

**First off, I would like to say, Kal-El Fornia, you were a very tough opponent and I still hope to surprise you again in the future lol. Also, my dear Chromate, I am sorry. You will know by the end of the chapter why, since it would ruin the mood to put it here. Thanks to everyone for your lovely reviews and welcome to the new reviewers and readers. **

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When we came back to the table, only Hikari and Takeru were still sitting amongst the empty food containers. They were squeezed against each other so they could both watch the small viewing screen on Takeru's video camera. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but every now and then I caught a familiar word. Hikari noticed us as Ken and I took our seats at the table and offered each of us a large smile. Ken smiled back at her and seemed, in my opinion, to be feeling a little better about the world.

"What are you watching?" Ken asked as he craned his neck to get a view of the screen over Hikari's shoulder.

"We filmed Taichi and Daisuke in a sushi eating race while you guys were gone." Takeru flipped the viewing screen over so we could see the boys piling fish into their mouths.

"It was kind of gross," Hikari admitted with a wrinkled nose, before laughing, "But watching Daisuke's victory chest pound was hilarious."

I looked at Ken and wondered if he finally realized that Daisuke was not changed forever. He needed time to defrost, like I assumed he would, but this had to be proof he was back to his normal self. Well, as 'normal' as Daisuke ever could be. It also proved that Daisuke could fit over three pieces of sushi in his mouth at once. "Where are they now?"

"Yes!" Taichi's outburst answered my question as he and a somewhat desperate looking Daisuke walked over to the table. In Taichi's hand were four slips of paper that he waved around the group and in front of my face. "You'll never believe what just happened."

"You cheated." Daisuke claimed from the other side, "You had to. There was nothing on that card."

"What are you talking about?" I looked between the two of them and realized I hadn't seen Taichi smile that big in a long time.

"Daisuke and I tried the Bingo game, and guess who won the biggest and best prize in the whole world."

"You?" I blinked and looked at my brother to see if he understood any of this conversation. Takeru shrugged his shoulders and watched the boys banter back and forth about the fairness of the game.

"Taichi," Hikari finally put an end to the madness by holding up a palm to each of the boys, "What is this world's greatest prize?"

The brunet grinned a little wider and sat down on the chair beside me. He cleared his throat as if he was about to deliver a universe altering speech, then held up the four strips of paper. With great care, he pointed at the title on one of them and said, "These, are four tickets to the charity soccer game played by the Consa team in Sapporo. They are playing an American team and raising money for some kind of medical research. I can't believe we got tickets for this game!"

I was happy for Taichi, really, I was, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to the match. We would be hitting Wakkanai soon and I had almost none of my monologue memorized. Between all the weird stuff we hit on the road and the goof off times, I had kind of slacked on my goal of having both my songs and acting part perfected upon arrival in Wakkanai. As I looked closer at the tickets, I noticed that they were for that night. If we were even going to make that game, there would have to be some type of time miracle.

"Do you think we could actually get in town before the game starts? That place is hours away from us. Not to mention, we would have to set up camp and get checked in before we could go there."

Taichi wasn't fazed in the slightest, "We can use this as our first hotel night! Just drive in, drop off our stuff, and then head to the game."

"Well," I did like the idea of staying in a hotel instead of a tent. But I still needed alone time to really work on my audition pieces. Maybe he could take someone else? "Why don't you go with Daiuske, Ken, and Takeru or Hikari?"

"He won't let _me_ go." Daisuke seethed a little and gave Taichi a cold stare.

The brunet ignored it and watched me, "Don't you want to come with me Yamato? It is going to be a great game."

The look on his face sent a guilty wave through my brain. This obviously meant a lot to Taichi and he apparently wanted me to share in the fun. Soccer was a great sport filled with ample opportunities to get exercise and work on team building skills, but it had never really clicked with me. Cheering for Taichi when he played was fun, because I was invested in the game and wanted his team to win. But I had taken a few too many 'let-me-teach-you-how-to-play-Yama' soccer balls to the head to want anything more to do with the sport. I appreciated it, since Taichi loved it, but my world would not come crashing down if I missed the game. Daisuke, on the other hand, would probably chew off his arm to get one of those tickets.

"Why aren't you letting Daisuke go to the game?"

Taichi eyed the brunet, who now looked a little hopeful he could gain a ticket, "I'd rather not have the security or police throw me out of somewhere for once on this trip."

"Hey!" The teen groaned and pointed at Taichi, "We agreed to a fresh start. You can't hold that over my head. It was just one little police stop, and you really need to get over that."

"Says the guy who had us escorted away from the Bingo game for fighting?" Taichi countered easily, and I began to believe it _was_ a bad idea to send them to a soccer game together.

"Look," Taichi turned his head to me and smiled that crooked little grin I adored, "They are my tickets and I want Yamato to come with me. You'll never forget your first professional game, Yama. Promise you will come with me?"

"Alright, I promise I'll go." I took the ticket and made a promise to myself that I would work on the monologues after the others went to bed. Even if I had to walk up and down the hotel hallway, I would get some practice in. "But what are you going to do with the other tickets?"

When we left the ferryboat and drove through the streets of Hakodate, I was behind the wheel. It was only fair to take a turn after Taichi had driven the first half of the morning. Five minutes in, though, I was ready to forget any concept of fairness and murder half of the people in the car. Between Taichi ordering me to drive over every posted speed limit and the rest of them arguing about the damn soccer tickets, my mind was slowly beginning to melt and give way to more basic instincts.

When Taichi turned in his seat to try to swipe at Daisuke, I lost the last bit of sanity and pulled over to the side of the road, "That is it. Taichi, end this madness and take Daisuke and Ken to the game. Takeru and Hikari, have a date night or whatever you want. And the next person who bugs me about the speed limit, _will_ s_uffer_. Any questions?"

The group was silent for a moment, and even Taichi stared at me with a little surprise. I'll admit that the words had been a little more direct than I planned, but it seemed to have done the trick. Daisuke took the two tickets Taichi handed him and both he and Ken shared a smile. I was sure that Ken's smile was a little wider then Daisuke's, but I wouldn't dare point it out in the car. Hikari and Takeru seemed pleased with the chance to spend some time alone. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she stared up at me with an innocent expression.

"Um, Yamato? Can we make one stop? I think I forgot some of my toiletries at Kiyomi's house."

I ignored Taichi's whispered groan about stops making us late for the game, and nodded my head at Hikari, "Okay. One stop and then we will head to Sapporo."

We made it to the hotel in record time, mainly because Taichi demanded to take over the car after we stopped at a small store in Hakodate. I had no idea the van could reach some of the speeds Taichi attempted, and completely understood why the teenagers made a large show of patting the ground and loudly admitting how thankful they were to see it again. Resident racecar driver Yagami Taichi, rolled his eyes and grumbled something about them making a scene. Personally, I was too frazzled from watching the trees and other cars pass by at lightning speed to say much of anything. I didn't even want to think about the way the speedometer needle had shaken and flew farther across the range then it ever should.

The hotel was a low-priced western styled place, but it was not a tent, which kept me from sinking into a foul mood. Because it was of questionable quality, to say the least, we were able to snag a suite style room for a pretty decent price. There were two queen-sized beds in the back room and a fold out couch in the tiny sitting area. The bathroom, which was surprisingly clean, was situated in the middle space between the two areas. It had a door that led to the bedroom and one that allowed access from the sitting room. Taichi staked out one of the beds and tried to push us all out the door, even though we had at least two hours to kill before the game started.

"Look," I told him as I dug through my clothes bag, "I'm getting a shower before we go anywhere. We'll make it in plenty of time, I promise."

"Want to wear one of my jerseys?" I doubted Taichi heard anything I said aside from 'arriving on time'. He held up two soccer style shirts and tried to tempt me into wearing one of them. I sighed and took one before capturing the bathroom.

A silent shower was the best therapy I could have signed up for. For once, I was able to let go of my thoughts and just enjoy the silence. When I left the shower, I wrapped a towel around my head and waist, before sparing the jersey Taichi had given me a look. I had no idea what the team's colors were, so I overlooked the blue tint of the shirt and examined the frayed bottom and underarms. There was a large hole on the left side and I figured that was reason enough to stick with my own shirt.

"Hey, Taichi," I called to him after poking my head out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, "Can you hand me one of my shirts? This jersey has a huge hole in it."

He pulled his attention away from the television Dasiuke and Ken were watching and turned to face me. As his eyes settled on my face, I noticed one of his eyebrows raise in confusion or uncertainty. When I repeated the question, Daisuke turned to look at me and broke out into a new set of giggles. I had no idea why they were acting so strangely, but when Ken joined the shocked staring contest I became a little worried. Whatever had captured their attention was in my area, but I couldn't see anything out-of-place.

"What? What are you staring at?"

"Um, Yamato…" Taichi raised a finger, and then scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Feeling a little green?" Daisuke cackled and a horrible thought began to infiltrate my head.

I turned immediately and ripped the towel off of my head. In the mirror I could see it plain as day, almost my entire head of blonde hair had turned into a green streaky mess! The notorious bang that, I assumed, alerted the others to the issue hung obstinately between my eyes as if it was mocking me. How could my hair have turned green from a simple shampooing?! There had to be an explanation, and I was almost certain that explanation included a layer of sabotage performed by a certain Daisuke.

"What did you put into my shampoo?!" I roared and raced back into the bedroom.

"I didn't do anything!" Daisuke held up his hands and jumped back as I tried to catch him. "I'll admit that this is a pretty amazing prank, but I've been sitting in here since we got to the room. It wasn't me."

"It is always you!" I growled the words out, and felt Taichi pull me back before I could attack the cornered Daisuke.

"Is this the shampoo you used?" Hikari, with an even softer voice then usual, walked over to the rumble scene and held out a brown bottle.

I only looked at the bottle for a second, then returned to glaring at Daisuke, "Yeah. I always use the rinRen shampoo in the brown bottle. Now let me go so I can knock some sense into him, Taichi!"

The boy held me tighter, and Hikari let out a nervous giggle, "Um, this isn't rinRen shampoo. This is the stuff I bought at the store today. It is supposed to have some kind of special chemical in it to make your hair have more body. I guess it doesn't work quite right…"

"It looks like your chemical," Takeru read the back of the bottle, "Is just a ton of chlorine. How did you not smell that while you were in the shower?"

I ignored Takeru and kept my attention on the situation at hand. The new revelations forced my body to pause in mid-rampage. Was it actually possible that this hadn't been some horrible trick by Daisuke? Was I really stupid enough to grab the wrong bottle in the shower? I pulled out of Taichi's arms and raced back to the bathroom. There was no way I was going to the soccer game, or anywhere else, with green hair! A new panic started to settle over me as I imagined trying to audition with hair as green as a crayon. They'd laugh me out of the damn university!

"I'm not going to the game." I announced firmly and ran back to the shower to turn on the water. "Go on without me. I am not leaving this hotel until I get every freaking speck of green out my hair!"

"It looks kind of good?" Taichi tried to counter my refusal and I gave him a stone cold glare. "Okay, it is a little strange, but you _promised_ to come to the game."

How Taichi could still be that obsessed over the soccer match, when I was standing in front of him with neon hair, must be one of the greatest mysteries of all time. At first I couldn't think of an actual answer to his statement. If my current look weren't enough to convince him, then what would be? Not all of us woke up, ran a hand through our gravity defying hair, and went out into the world. "My. Head. Is. Green."

Taichi seemed to not be bothered by the fact each word was said in a slow, methodic pace. He squinted his eyes slightly as if he was ready to resort to childish tactics to get me to accompany him to the match. A tiny, heartbreaking line formed on his face and he let out a phrase that had gotten him his way many times in the past, "I just want to share this special event with you. I want my boyfriend to be there by my side." After a minute, he added to his speech, "This whole trip was supposed to be about us spending time together. And you promised we could go to this game together."

"Fine!" I grumbled out the word and rubbed my temples. How that boy always knew the right nerve to pluck, baffled me. But somewhere between his facial expression, the speech about our limited bonding times, and the fact I had never really broken a promise to him before forced my hand. "But only, if I can get this green out."

When I started playing in my band, I had always fantasized about being that person everyone wanted to flock around. It was probably the result of being a nobody in a band that had to pay other people to let them play at small functions. We were in the red financially for most of our first years together, but it was all made up for when people started to remember our music and names. Although, as I marched through Sapporo dome in Takeru's favorite hat, I wished with every fiber of my being that I could disappear off the planet.

After six consecutive hair washes with the right shampoo, most of the green had been forced out. There was still enough light-green that I looked like a bad attempt at a zebra striped hair coloring job, but it was somewhat hidden under the hat. Taichi hadn't been too helpful in the matter either, but I guess it was expected when someone dangled a prize like this in front of his face. By the time we made it into the Dome, I was one Taichi groan away from punching the jerk in the shoulder. If I had agreed to come along with him, he could agree to wait if I had to readjust the damn hat.

"Here we are." He grinned excitedly and shared some sort of peppy hand movement with a few other people in our section. "I'm telling you these are the best seats in the whole place! I mean look how close we are to that field."

"It's nice." I acknowledged and sat on the seat closer to the aisle. Daisuke and Ken, already gossiping about the players, sat in the two seats directly below Taichi and I.

"Nice? It is awesome!" The young woman in a Consadole jersey, situated on the opposite side of Taichi's seat, busted into the conversation. She high-fived my excited boyfriend and annoyed me, "This is going to be an amazing match. That American team doesn't stand a chance!"

Taichi forgot about anything else around him and joined the mystery woman, and her three friends, in a discussion about how badly the opposite team would lose. I wondered if these women were as bold in their regular lives, or if this was just a soccer thing. Personally, I figured it was more of an alcohol thing since they had a few beers amongst themselves. Ether way, the woman had captured every speck of Taichi's attention and left me to scan the field.

I hadn't expected the enormity of the dome, but I had to admit it was one of the largest places I had ever seen. The crowds screamed as the players started heading towards their starting line ups and I tried to remember any of the soccer terms Taichi had taught me over the years. I could spot the goalkeepers, an achievement any four-year-old could probably accomplish, and knew that somewhere on the field were forwards and midfielders. While Taichi and the rowdy girls cheered on their team, I watched the new looking screen hanging from the top of the roof. It mainly showed close up views of the plays, but would casually scan the audience during random points. Every time it stopped on someone, the people would look up and offer a small peace sign or wave.

About halfway through the game, Ken volunteered to grab drinks for the group. I tried to accompany him, but he didn't seem too keen on the idea. Apparently, the kid viewed it as his responsibility to help out since Taichi had been kind enough to share his tickets. I watched my boyfriend and his new group of friends shout at the opposing team, then turned back to Ken with a slightly desperate look. Thankfully, he read the message and happily accepted me as a member of the drink run team.

"So," He asked casually while we waited in line, "What do you think about your first professional game?"

"It is…" I watched a middle-aged couple leave the souvenir shop and noted even their shoes had a team sticker on them. I had seen people get this crazy about musicians and bands, but watching a sports team inspire such actions was a little different to me. "Unique."

"You'll get used to it." Ken laughed and gave the man at the counter our order, "I was nervous at my first game too. I had never seen so many people shout and curse in my life. But I guess only a really significant event can inspire people to do that type of thing?"

"Do they always film the audience on a giant screen? I have never even heard of a kiss cam before." We entered the seating section and stared at the large monitor hanging from the roof. Hearts decorated the corners of the screen and I watched a young American looking couple blush, then kiss as the camera landed on them. It seemed a little strange in my opinion. What was the point of blasting your public displays of affection over a giant screen? It was probably an American thing that the Sapporo team was trying. The writing between the hearts on the screen looked similar to the English I had studied in school. I couldn't tell what it said, and I doubted that half of the Japanese fans could either, but every time it landed on a couple, of any nationality, they gave each other a chaste kiss on the lips or cheek.

"I guess that is an American thing?" Ken shrugged his shoulders and motioned towards the screen, "Hey look, it's Taichi."

I stared at the screen and saw my boyfriend and his rowdy new friend being framed by the hearts. The girl elbowed Tai in the side, pointed to the screen, and captured his lips in a full fledge kiss. Dizziness settled over my body as I watched the girl lock lips with him, but I didn't lose myself just yet. It was only when the crooked grin of pleasure, that I knew rather well from the many times it had graced my body, appeared on his mouth that I lost it. The drinks slipped from my hands and I turned from the screen to scan the seats. As my eyes settled over Taichi and the random woman, only a moment later, he had pushed her away and was looking back at me with a face I couldn't read.

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**Dun-a, dun-a, dun-a? I have to insert **_**Jaws**_** music every now and then to keep up the drama mood. XD.**

**Chromate, I hope the poor attempt at describing a soccer match did not burn your eyes. Thanks for reading and, if you feel the urge, reviewing boys and girls!**


	16. Suspicion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. **

**Hello everyone! :) I have no idea how this one will be taken, but here it is anyway lol. Thank you to all of my reviewers and readers! **

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The first time I had seen Taichi's trademark grin of pleasure, he was mere inches from my face after delivering our first real kiss. It had been a magical moment that I still thought about whenever I was near or far from him. After watching the little smirk come out when he kissed the woman in the stands, the whole thing lost a small bit of its special quality. It no longer felt like something that was only shared between the two of us. Suddenly, there was a new member of that exclusive club and I was less than pleased with the new addition.

Unlike the moments in life when your body panics and your senses fly into overdrive, mine decided to alternate, annoyingly, as my brain tried to process the whole event. I could catch snippets of Ken trying to say something, the smell of various event foods, and felt my feet shuffle as if they wanted to run but had not been told their destination. Somewhere in the background a pair of old ladies mumbled something about the cute couple on the screen and how the boy desperately needed a haircut. Ken placed a hand on my shoulder, but I didn't register the words he offered along with the touch. Instead, I stumbled backwards a step or two and made a quick dash for the exit.

It wasn't until I hit the cold night air that I could feel my lungs kicking back into action. The stubborn creatures took their sweet time filling with air and pushing out more in succession. Once the pattern was reestablished, I looked around to see if anyone had spotted my random exit from the dome. No one, besides a random security guard or two, was in the large parking lot. I bent over and placed my hands on my knees to try to gain a little more balance. It was hard to figure out a plan when my brain was still swirling, but it probably would have been hard to pick the correct option with a perfectly focused brain as well. _Was_ there a correct answer to this kind of thing? Why, oh, why, didn't life come with a cheat guide?

"Yamato?"

Taichi's voice wasn't entirely surprising to hear. I may not have been able to foresee that he would kiss a random girl, but I knew him well enough to see him following after me. It was nice to know that at least some of my knowledge about Taichi was still accurate. He would have been in even deeper trouble if he remained happily in the game.

"Hey, Yamato. It is getting cold out here, so why don't we move back inside?"

"What," I turned to stare at him and noticed the way his eyebrows furrowed together in a look of worry and nerves, "were you doing?"

"Nothing." He mumbled in a soft, awkward tone.

"Taichi…"

"It wasn't a big deal. I mean… it wasn't on purpose or anything." He struggled with his words, but I wasn't in any mood to help him piece together his thoughts.

"Why did you kiss her?"

"_She,_ _kissed_ _me_. I thought you'd be at least a little proud of the fact that Bara made a pass at me and I turned her down!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you so much for being able to turn away one of the many girls who fling themselves at you." I had trouble understanding how one girl's name could leave such a horrid taste in my mouth and inspire quite a catty comment.

"You can't honestly blame me for the fact girls hit on me!" His temper was flaring as my own emotions soared to equal heights. "You saw me walk away!"

"Why did you let her kiss you?" I don't know if he could understand what that question really meant. What I really wanted to know, but couldn't find the nerve to ask, was did he stay in the kiss because it was what he really wanted?

His answer was spat out with the ferocity of an emotion I couldn't dissect or fully understand, "Well, I couldn't have kissed you!"

"I'm going."

I turned around and heard a groan come out of Taichi's mouth. He kept up with me as I started to march away from the Dome, and soon was walking at my side. I tried hard to avoid looking at him because the last thing I needed was him to see the pain on my face. I never thought of myself as someone who easily showed what I was thinking. Most people wrote me off as a guy who just kept everything bottled up where no one could ever see it. But when it came to Taichi, the damn boy had a strange ability to look at my eyes and pick up on the shifting moods. Quite an accomplishment for a guy who normally barreled along without thinking.

"Yamato," Taichi put a hand on my shoulder, and I promptly shrugged it off. "You can't just go. Come on, we can still have a good time."

He was desperate. I could hear it, see it, and practically smell it. Of course, that didn't mean I was going to go back into the game with him. What would that have been like? I shuddered to think about the looks Daisuke and Ken would give me, and the idea of watching Bara flirt with Taichi forced my stomach to cart-wheel. Instead of answering his suggestion, I pulled the van key out of my pocket and pushed it against his chest. Even if I was angry with him at the moment, I wasn't going to strand all three of them in the parking lot. Besides, Daisuke and Ken deserved to watch the rest of their game.

"Yamato, you can't walk back to the hotel. You have no idea how to get anywhere in this city." He took the key I had held since he drove us to the dome, and tried once more to reach out for my hand, "Please, just wait until I get Daisuke and Ken and then we can go if you want."

"No," I pulled my hand out of his and looked into his eyes to see that he was feeling as confused as I was. At least, in my opinion, he looked like someone who was unsure how to solve this whole mess. "Just go to your damn game and leave me alone."

Taichi was right about something, and in that state it practically killed me to admit such a fact; I really had no idea how to get anywhere in that town. The whole drive to the Dome had been Taichi's doing. After the hair episode, I had spent most of my time in the passenger seat with Takeru's hat pulled as far down on my head as possible. I never imagined that some scenario would play out and force me to explore the city alone. But as I stumbled around the chilly night air, wishing I had thought to bring a jacket, a small strip of neon lights caught my attention and pulled me towards a tiny building.

Inside the place was a small crowd of depressed looking individuals chatting amongst themselves at various tables. The bartender was speaking to one of the taller patrons and didn't notice me slip into the back of the room. I collapsed in the chair and took a moment to rest my head in my hands. The action must have looked sad enough to gain attention from the middle-aged waitress flittering around the room. She placed a beer on my table and gave me a small head nod, "On the house. You look like you could use it."

She spoke very slowly and looked at me like I needed to see each movement of her mouth. I knew the look very well and tried my best to dispel her belief about me being foreign by answering her in my best Japanese, "Thank you. Please, let me pay you for the drink."

"You're Japanese?" She blinked her tiny eyes and I noticed the thick chunks of mascara on the lashes.

I nodded at her and tried to reach for my billfold, but she refused to take any money from me. Instead of taking my money or asking for some proof of age, she merely said something about having to get back to work and waltzed back to the bar. I stared at the beer and considered drinking it for a moment or two. It was free, I was thirsty, and it would probably be rude to throw the gift back in her face. I cupped the cold bottle gently and took in the smell of the beverage.

My body had been an alcohol free zone for quite a while. The rebellious phase and medical test anxieties had been the last hurrah for my years as a drinker. Even when my dad had been more than willing to offer me a cold glass of whatever he had purchased from the store, I had remained steadfast and refused. After the incident, I had promised him I would never let it touch my lips again. Taichi had been so somber when he begged me to quit that night that I couldn't have turned him down.

Thinking about Taichi pushed my brain into another painful spin of emotions. I groaned and shoved the untouched beer away from me. How could I be angry at him when almost everything I did reminded me of some memory or aspect of him? What kind of madness was this? When had we become so entwined that I couldn't even go to a restaurant without being flooded by images of him?

Really, it was a stupid question and fully deserved its equally stupid answer; Always. Practically from the first moment I became aware of Yagami Taichi's existence in the world, my thoughts had been focused on him. Who knows when, or if, as the case may be, his thoughts became focused on me? As much as I loved that boy, the royally ticked off part of my brain reminded me that for a guy who was supposed to be so entwined with my thoughts, he didn't show it very well today.

"Are you okay?" The waitress returned to my side and started wiping off the neighboring table, "Is it the wrong brand or something?"

"Oh," I shook my head to try to gain a clearer thought pattern and gave her the best positive face I could, "No. It is fine. I just promised someone that I wouldn't…"

Her eyebrows knit together in a look of understanding; "Your girlfriend doesn't like it when you drink?"

"Something like that."

"Good for you. It is nice to see someone keep their promises in this day and age." She took on a new tone and I was reminded of Satomi's parental voice, "Here, let me get you something else."

A few minutes later, the beer was replaced with a glass of water and I took a long sip. The woman cleaned the table on the other side of me, which didn't look all that dirty to begin with, and tried to inspire a conversation. I nodded my head when the right moments came, but wasn't able to really give her the stimulating conversation she sought. All I could think about was my own problems and not the current hot television shows.

"Alright," She stopped her table wiping and took the seat across from me, "Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling something bigger is going on here then you just waltzed into a random bar for a casual drink of water."

Her bluntness surprised me, but I was in too low of a mood to really be that shocked, "I just needed a few minutes to cool off."

"Girlfriend trouble?"

"Something like that." I repeated and drank the last of the water.

"I remember those days. You fight, make up, fight, make up, and then you get married."

"And the pattern ends?" It didn't for my parents, but maybe, hopefully, they were in the minority.

A loud laugh escaped her lips forcing me to lean back in my chair. She ran a hand under one of her heavily makeup coated eyes, as if a tear had formed from her sudden bought of glee. When she had recomposed herself, I noticed a smile like the one I had seen on Satomi's face appear. She lowered her voice to keep our conversation secluded and told me her story.

"I have been married for twenty-three years now. Shocking isn't it?" She paused and gave me a quick grin, "I can tell you that sometimes it seems like the worst decision I ever made. Some days I am tempted to just throw in the towel and walk right out of the apartment and never return. But then there are those days were everything is wonderful. Those moments were you realize that you wouldn't have a life nearly as fun, beautiful, or fulfilling if you didn't have that person in your life. You are going to fight; there is absolutely no way around that. But you will also have those moments that mean more then anything."

"How," I shook my head in slight disbelief that anyone could stay together for so long, "Did you pull that off? How did you stay together for that long?"

"I had to learn to take it one day at a time. My husband and I are still learning to follow that rule, but we are getting better. It is all about trust, communication, and love."

The idea of a relationship lasting longer than a year or two was still hard for me to understand. Was it actually possible in this day and age to remain with one person for a lifetime? My parents hadn't been able to do it, and I was having trouble making it through my own relationship. Could trust, communication, and love really be some secret formula to keeping things together? My parents had missed those ingredients in their own relationship and it had gone down in flames. I wasn't the type to take random advice from strange barmaids, but she seemed to have a better romantic success rate then my family.

"Don't forget," She must have noticed the intense look of thought on my face, because she waved a finger at me, "Take it one day at a time. A love story has to start with page one, right?"

When I finally managed to make it back to the hotel room, I had wandered over half of the city. I wasn't certain how far I had actually gone, but it was far enough to tire out my limbs and help cancel out the pounding thoughts. After opening the door, I noticed Takeru and Hikari snuggled up on the couch together. They were watching something on the television and seemed a little surprised when I came into the room alone.

"Yamato?" Hikari pulled herself out of my brother's arms and watched me shuffle across the room. "Where are the other guys?"

Yes, it was rude, but I didn't answer her question. I wasn't sure that I had the strength to answer any of the questions I knew would come my way. Instead, I charged off to the bedroom and started shifting all of my stuff onto the opposite bed. Takeru came in a few minutes later and watched me toss all of Daisuke's stuff on Taichi's bed. There was no way I was going to sleep next to that boy tonight.

"What is gong on Yamato?" Takeru walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, just like Ken had at the game. "Please, at least tell me what happened and why you came back alone."

Before I could tell Takeru anything, not that I really knew what I would actually say to him, the room's door opened and the soccer trio filed in to the bedroom area. Ken and Daisuke looked at me with nervous and annoyed expressions, respectfully. What in the world Daisuke could be ticked about I didn't know. If anything, that boy should be thanking me for not stranding his ass on the side of the road ages ago. If it hadn't been for me, he would have been pounded into a nice pile of Daisuke-goo by Taichi days ago. Taichi stood still as he stared at Takeru and I near the beds. His fists clenched and he seemed to be shifting between worry and anger as he eyed me.

"Where have you been?" The question was filled with a parental worry that I didn't care to listen to, "I have driven all over this freaking town to try to find you. Do you realize how terrifying it is to think that you could have been lost or worse in a strange town?"

"I guess I got farther then you thought while you watched your little game." I hadn't meant to let my annoyance slip out, but I wasn't going to stand there and be berated like a child who wandered away from his parents. I was an adult and could take care of myself. I didn't need Taichi chasing after me to make sure I crossed streets the right way or remembered to tie my shoes. Besides, I had specifically told him to leave me alone! Why would he chase after me when I told him to back off?

"End of the game? Ha! We got drug out by mister killjoy the moment he got back into the stands." Daisuke rolled his eyes and pouted in the corner, "We had to spend the last hour and a half driving around looking for you."

"Would someone please explain what is going on?" Hikari stood next to Takeru and created a barricade between the feuding parties.

"We had to miss the best part of the game because Taichi decided to play tonsil hockey with the drunk chick next to him!" Not one to be ignored, Daisuke's answer garnered glares from over three of the road trip members.

"You kissed a girl at the game?" Hikari's eyes widened and even Takeru seemed a little surprised by the news.

"She. Kissed. Me. Why does no one remember that part of the story?!" Taichi growled out the words and took a step towards me, "Look, Yamato… it really was a big accident. Can't we just forget any of this stuff ever happened?"

I _wanted_ to forget all of this had ever happened. More then anything, I wanted to close my eyes and go back to the time before that dreaded kiss had occurred. Of course, pushing the memory away wasn't going to change the fact that Taichi had hesitated. If it was really as simple as a drunken girl kissing him, then we could just chalk it up to some stupid road trip incident. But Taichi hadn't just pushed her away. For that brief moment, he looked like he not only enjoyed, but also fit into that embrace and that scared me.

When we started this road trip, Taichi had labeled it as, '_Our last big adventure._' Now that we were so close to Wakkanai, maybe the adventure was drawing to a close? Was this some shadow of things to come? The dark part of my mind had already been battling with the daunting realization that we could very possibly be drawing closer to the end of our days as a couple. The more I let my brain sulk on the idea, the more real it began to feel.

It was so easy to just be together when we were in the same place. But what was going to keep Taichi interested when we were miles apart and beautiful women surrounded him? Why go through the stress of a gay romance when he could have a romance with a local and beautiful Odaiba girl? I couldn't compete with that. Despite the waitress' warnings, and the fact the mere thought made me sick to my stomach, I began to wonder if the words '_break up_' were going to have to come into play.

"You need to figure this out…" I mumbled to Taichi, and myself, before grabbing a pillow and heading for the pull out couch in the sitting room.

* * *

**Short chapter, but it needed to be written. I am still unsure how I feel about this one. Full or semi-resolution to a problem is not my writing forte. Hopefully this one isn't too bad. **


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